Grant: CIHR Café Scientifique Program

The Power of Stories aims to engage, inform and provoke dialogue about the importance of storytelling in HIV prevention, treatment, support and care. Drawing from a variety of community-based research projects and creative works, we invite community members and researchers into a dialogue about storytelling's role in transforming both our health and environment. In particular, the Cafe will draw on the following research projects: 1. Story Gleaners, a community-based research project that used oral and digital storytelling to explore how drug policy affects the health of people who use drugs; 2. Taking Action II! Building Aboriginal Youth Leadership for HIV Prevention, a community-based research project on how Aboriginal young people are taking up HIV in relation to their communities and cultures; and 3. Presentation of writer, educator and community-based researcher, Francisco Ibanez-Carrasco's work, "Killing Me Softly: Morir Amando" a collection of twelve stories centred on the experiences of living with HIV. Importantly, participants from both Story Gleaners and Taking Action! will be invited to share their stories on stage, including short stories, poetry and spoken word.