Q&A with a Story Guru: Judy Rosemarin: Storytelling Had to Emerge Because We Long for the Connection

See a photo of Judy, her bio, Part 1 of this Q&A, and Part 2.


Q&A with Judy Rosemarin, Question 3:

Q: The storytelling movement seems to be growing explosively. Why now? What is it about this moment in human history and culture that makes storytelling so resonant with so many people right now?

A: How could we not have stories now? How many facts can you jam into your head? How many data points can you stomach? How many claims bombard us every day? How can we escape or even understand the magnitude of our world’s challenges and possibilities? But one story of one little girl, during the second world war, who hid from the Nazis in an attic, and whose book has been translated into countless languages, whose little life and major story makes us see something new, different, touches our hearts, and we remember the story: Anne Frank’sThe Diary of A Young Girl.

My belief is that storytelling had to emerge now, for we long for the connection, the humanity, the longing for learning from one another, to hear conquests so we can believe in ourselves, to hear sorry so we can develop empathy and to be in the moment, so we can be present to ourselves and to one another.