Adoptee writers Alice and Marci go deep on changing the narrative around around adoption. We explore changing the narrative out there in the world and the narrative within. What others say about us and what we say to ourselves. It's all about self-empowerment, healing, sharing and learning from others. Listen in for a great conversation with two people who really know how to inspire themselves and other adoptees.

MARCI CALABRETTA CANCIO-BELLO

Founding Co-Director

Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello is the author of Hour of the Ox (University of Pittsburgh, 2016), which won the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry. She is the co-translator of Yi Won’s The World’s Lightest Motorcycle (Zephyr Press, 2021). Her work has appeared in Catapult, Kenyon Review Online, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, and elsewhere. She has received fellowships from the American Literary Translators Association, the Knight Foundation, and Kundiman, among others. She is co-director for PEN America Miami/South Florida Chapter, and a program coordinator for Miami Book Fair.

ALICE STEPHENS

Founding Co-Director

Alice Stephens’ debut novel, Famous Adopted People, was published in 2018 by Unnamed Press. Her work has appeared in LitHub, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Margins, Banana Writers, and other publications, and has been anthologized in Volume IX of the DC Women’s Writers Grace & Gravity series, Furious Gravity (2020), and Writing the Virus (Outpost19, 2020). She is a co-facilitator of the Adoptee Voices Writing Group, editor of Bloom, and writes book reviews and a column, Alice in Wordland, for the Washington Independent Review of Books.

The Adoptee Literary Festival brings together writers who self-identify as having been adopted, fostered, or otherwise displaced to share their stories, make their voices heard, and reshape the narrative of adoption which has for too long been dominated by adoptive parents and the adoption industry. Covering all genres, the festival highlights writing that makes adoptees the subject, rather than the object, of their own stories. Respectful of diverse opinions, we recognize that every adoption story is different, and celebrate all genuine voices that seek to educate, engage, and nurture.

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Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.