The Syracuse University Humanities Center, in the College of Arts and Sciences, presents as part of the 2025-26 Syracuse SymposiumTM on Creativity.
IS WRITING ENOUGH? CREATIVITY, INCARCERATION, AND TRAUMA
Conventional wisdom says that creative self-expression is a path to healing and recovery for those who have experienced harm, particularly when that harm is compounded by the criminal legal system. Many of us can recall the power and poetry of prose and verse penned by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. But is this power sometimes overstated? While creativity is a human impulse that empowers and can facilitate healing, many justice-impacted people have experienced harms through systems that cannot be surmounted simply through the act of creative self-expression. Dr. Moira Marquis and Johnny Page will begin with a conversation on the complexity of creativity for justice-impacted peole before sharing examples of creative expression.
Dr. Moira Marquis is the Manager of Higher Education Partnerships at the Petey Greene Program, which delivers educational programming to justice-impacted people throughout the coutnry. She has a PhD in English from UNC Chapel Hill, and her book Thought Threats is forthcoming from UNC Press.
Johnny Page is a storyteller, a systems thinker, and Executive Director of ConTextos Chicago, where he leads initiatives that use personal narrative, storytelling, and collective authorship to disrupt cycles of violence, uplift lived experiences, and promote healing-centered engagement.
This hybrid event will take place IN-PERSON at the Downtown Writers Center and ONLINE via Zoom.