#storytelling

#storytelling

In 2013, I premiered my experimental short film, , at Outfest, and to my surprise, it won the Grand Jury Award. That moment wasn't just a career milestone; it was an act of recognition for the trans community. It affirmed that a trans artist could belong in cinema's future and that our stories could take up space in a world that had long refused to see us.

Over the last two years, the value of content has collapsed. Thanks to the LLM revolution, the internet is drowning in an avalanche of indistinguishable output: an endless parade of fast-food writing, recycled reports, and SEO-bait fluff optimized for algorithms instead of people. That's why the only competitive moat left is the human story. For business leaders, this creates an urgent mandate: Storytelling is no longer a marketing tactic. It's a strategic business imperative-the only reliable engine for changing minds and shifting behaviors.

Over the past two decades, the Japanese artist Aki Sasamoto has developed a unique performance/installation practice in which she produces installations of absurd sculptural devices-from haemorrhoid cushions to oversized fishing lures-that, in turn, serve as an object-based score and environment for improvised performances that combine humorous spoken narratives with physical actions and mark-making. The artist's first mid-career survey, Aki Sasamoto's Life Laboratory at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), traces the evolution of this practice through a sharp combination of installations, documentation and live performances.

The Tower is a matryoshka doll of a book, which starts with this papery outer layer and, by way of Katherine Mansfield, Walter Benjamin, Carl Jung, illness, girlhood and more, peels back these different skins to reach the real, inner story: that of the author, denoted here as simply T. The former Times Literary Supplement editor's follow-up to Dandelions - a hybrid of family memoir and cultural history spun out around the central thread of Lenarduzzi's grandmother - also flexes the parameters of fact and fiction.

If you covered up your name and profile picture on LinkedIn, would your dream client still know that post was written by you? The LinkedIn feed is overrun with AI-generated posts, regurgitated quotes, and surface-level advice that sounds like everyone else. Your ideal clients scroll past dozens of posts every day, glazed eyes searching for something real, something that actually helps them solve their problems.

She could have told me the truth, that the paint was graffiti. Instead, she told me the rocks were a species of monster called bloodsuckers, and that at night they came alive to eat children who were foolish enough to stray outside after dark. I believed her with all my heart. Why wouldn't I? She was my nan!

Lauren Groff: If you want to write something that's going to affect people emotionally, you have to do it emotionally. Nick White: And it has to cost you more than the time you're spending writing. It pushes me to my emotional and intellectual capabilities. I feel like when something is working it is because all cylinders are firing, and I am working at the very bleeding edge of what I am capable of.

Tell me about what you had for dinner last night. There are different ways you could fill in the details of that story. You could give perceptual descriptions of how your food looked and tasted. Or you could focus more on conceptual experiences, such as what that food made you think and feel. In a new brain scan study, neuroscientists found that telling the same story different ways activates different memory mechanisms in the listener's brain, shaping how someone remembers what you told them.

Because they land in an inbox already flooded with hundreds of other requests and are immediately deleted. This is usually because they are written as announcements, not as compelling stories. They scream "look at us" instead of offering genuine value to the journalist and their readers. The brutal reality is that you only have seconds to prove you're different, and you can do that by being strategic.

If you've ever worked in or around startups, you've definitely seen it: a small team, new funding, great enthusiasm, and a whiteboard full of objectives and key results (OKRs). Everything appears polished, strategic, and "grown-up." However, for early-stage products, the polish might be a trap. In the early, messy, uncertain stages of product development, narrative always outperforms strategy. A compelling story not only guides your team, but it also persuades investors, early adopters, and potential hires to believe in something that doesn't exist yet.

"The perfect pitch doesn't start with money," Zemrak told attendees. "It starts with a person and a mission."

I used to leave design presentations with a stack of changes and a heavy heart. Over 20 points to revise was normal. Most of the feedback wasn't from users; it was subjective opinions from stakeholders. Nothing felt anchored. I'd rush through the screens, hoping the room wouldn't ask hard questions. Then I learned to stop just showing screens and start telling the story behind them. The result was immediate: clearer conversations, fewer rounds of rework, faster buy-in, and designs that actually reflected user needs.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is the strategy RPG I have been waiting for. I've been a Final Fantasy girlie ever since I discovered Final Fantasy VIII on my brother's PSX demo disk when I was a teenager. While I have loved, or found something to love, in every title since the original PlayStation era, this is my first time playing Tactics - a title widely considered among Final Fantasy diehards to be one of the franchise's best. With this new remaster, I now understand why.

The program prides itself in sharing personal stories and unique experiences of all types, with a goal of amplifying the voices of our community. It is crucial, now more than ever, to share your story. Local celebrities like Josh Kornbluth, Marga Gomez, Irma Herrera, Diane Barnes, and so many others got their start on Monday Night Marsh.

When product placement is used heavy-handedly in media, it can come across as disingenuous, and rightfully so. Nobody likes being advertised to while taking in a work of fiction, but art imitates life, and people buy stuff. More importantly, our cities, cupboards, and highway billboards all deliver one important message: brand recognition runs deep in our waking lives. We live in a consumer-driven landscape, so it's only natural that our media reflects this through product placement.

Jonathan Goldstein's narrative pod about regrets, mistakes and the pursuit of closure cancelled by Spotify in 2023 makes its return this week under the Pushkin banner, and it's been worth the wait. Heavyweight does up-close-and-personal like few other shows, and this first episode about a son's fears around his parents' cluttered house, and a plot to relocate their trinkets to a barn is both warm and spiked with melancholy. Hannah J Davies Widely available, episodes weekly from Thu

The Second Wednesday of every Month, The Setup presents"A Funny Thing Happened", a night of world class storytelling. You'll be joining bestselling authors, Emmy-Award winning writers, TED speakers, stars of The Moth Radio hour, Snap Judgment and accomplished comedic voices in an intimate setting right in the heart of San Francisco. "A Funny Thing Happened" Storytelling Night Every Second Wednesday | 8 pm The Beer Basement, 222 Hyde St,

The program prides itself in sharing personal stories and unique experiences of all types, with a goal of amplifying the voices of our community. It is crucial, now more than ever, to share your story. Local celebrities like Josh Kornbluth, Marga Gomez, Irma Herrera, Diane Barnes, and so many others got their start on Monday Night Marsh. Every Monday (unless it's a holiday), we feature 3 people who perform up to 20 minutes of their (work-in-progress) piece. Each group performs twice in a month. After each show, we do a Q&A with the audience and performers, which allows for the opportunity to give and receive any feedback. You can watch in person, or stream via zoom for free.

"It's never been about me," said Eggleton, adding that participating in the "Nevertheless: The Women Changing the World" documentary series on YouTube was her way of honoring her late mother, Geraldine, who inspired her to speak out and help others in her community.

Join us to enjoy an afternoon of art, reading, and storytelling in Black Gold: Stories Untold at Fort Point. From 1 to 5 pm: San Francisco Public Library Bookmobile Visit the SFPL Bookmobile, talk with passionate librarians, and pick up your library card just in time for back-to-school! Explore the wonderful curation of books selected by SFPL staff librarians, which illuminates the role that African American communities play in California's cultural, social, and political landscape.

The Lebanese-American designer, writer and advocate's entire oeuvre - from her research to her art - is rooted in the belief that everything is political. Having been displaced from Lebanon to Canada as a child, a survivor of war and a refugee, this is something she experienced first hand at a young age. An enormous truism whittled down to three words, 'Everything is Political'; at once a tagline - and the title of Semaan's digital and print publication ( EIP ).

Every industry has a story. But telling that story effectively is another story. This is especially true of niche industries, which typically cater to very specialized audiences. Growing that audience is a natural goal for every brand, but doing so while still maintaining that niche appeal can be a challenge. Fortunately, with a smarter approach to storytelling, niche brands can grow their following without losing the same brand identity that helped them appeal to their original audience.

With the unveiling of the enchanting Casina Cinquepozzi, a lovingly restored estate in Puglia, multi-hyphenate Thelma West added the role of hotelier to her activities as a jewelry designer and gemologist. Known for bold diamond creations worn by the likes of Rihanna, West has extended her vision into luxury hospitality. On Instagram, her world comes alive, blending jewelry design, gem-sourcing trips, and travel into one coherent narrative.

You've heard plenty of solutions for stress. From meditation and nature walks to cold therapy and yoga, the list is long. But a less well-known strategy can deliver some powerful results: storytelling. In fact, there is evidence that storytelling is good for your mental health and well-being for multiple reasons. Thinking about the best ways to reduce stress has become increasingly relevant. According to Gallup, 49% of Americans report they frequently experience stress.

How many times have you read that marketing is dead in the last year? How often have you come across articles with headlines such as 'AI will replace all specialists by 2030'? And how many of your friends have sent you links to neural networks that 'write better than any copywriter' with a triumphant smirk? If you're a marketer, this is an especially painful experience. After all, it is our profession that regularly takes centre stage in these technological obituaries.

In Bob-Waksberg's new animated series, Long Story Short, characters navigate life while adhering to religious laws, depicting a blend of humor and cultural nuance in daily situations.