If you've never been allowed to read stories similar to your own - whether because of economic disadvantage, bigotry in our schools, or gatekeeping in the publishing industry- it may feel impossible to voice what has happened to you in a way that makes sense to others. This fact says something about the clients whom public defenders represent - how these clients communicate and struggle to make meaning of their lives. It warns us that legal storytelling is a tremendous responsibility.

Since 2022, Dr. Jill Patterson and ABD doctoral students enrolled in the TTU Creative Writing Program have partnered with Advancing Real Change, a legal education and services nonprofit. They lead participants in a three-day clinic through various writing prompts - for example, how to develop an inventory of life experiences; how to recognize which events create a cause-and-effect timeline; how to use the question/answer format to tell a story; and more. TTU students cultivate a close-knit writing community: they teach lawyers and mitigators to trust one another's abilities and give constructive feedback. In learning to write their own stories, and in seeing breakout faculty respond to them with compassion but also suggestions, the participants not only learn to tell their clients' stories but how crucial it is to tell the sory as the client wishes it to be heard.
Award Recipient:

• Dr. Leslie Jill Patterson, Professor, Dept. of English/Creative Writing, College of Arts and Sciences

Community Partner

• Advancing Real Change, Inc.