Soft light filled the room as students and faculty gathered on Friday evening for Writers From the Edge’s annual Truth Between Us event. In the past, the series has been a space for amplifying diverse voices and authentic storytelling. This year featured four poets and activists from around the Bay Area: Elmaz Abinader, Faith Adiele, Nina Liftawiya and Sara Borjas.
Over 20 attendees listened intently as the panelists spoke about finding one’s voice through life’s most vulnerable moments. “I think being able to communicate and say what you want means you can get it,” said Borjas, a social justice activist and professor at CSU East Bay in Hayward. Her words on truth, self-expression and courage set the tone for the night.
Throughout the evening, stories of immigration, identity and resilience filled the space. Liftawiya, who grew up in Palestine and immigrated to the U.S. at 19, shared memories of her homeland and her recent return home amidst the ongoing conflict and occupation. “When I write my stories, I write what I remember,” she said. “I know what happened, it was my lived experience. So write yourself.”
Her words carried weight, echoed later in an interview where she told a story from her childhood that shapes her perspective of the world now.
“I remember the time they shot tear gas into my house; I was 8 or 9, and it was terrifying. But I remember my uncle holding us out the window while he was choking. And that was such a sweet memory. That my uncle loved me enough to save me like.”
Each speaker showcased how memory and love are intertwined with survival. In one of her pieces, Borjas read, “If we understand love is a singularity, a point of ultimate implosion at which its function takes on infinite value, there are no limits to what it can do to us.”
During the Q&A session afterward, Faith Adiele, author and educator reflected on the political power of storytelling. “We’re living in a moment where we’re seeing the master narrative is completely not based in reality,” she said. “So it’s really important that ordinary people on the ground tell their stories. So many of us have been cut out of that history. I’ve found that telling my story and encouraging my students to tell theirs, gives someone else the courage and power to step forward with their voice.”
Professor Alie Jones harkened to the goal of the gathering and event, “we are writing to push against these edges.”
In some of the final moments, speaker, author and educator Elmaz Abinader closed with a reflection: “We have to speak truth to keep ourselves alive, through our own sense of community and being. It’s our soul.”