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This episode features our conversation with Theresa Okokon, which was hosted live and in-person on November 1, 2025 at The LAVA Center in Greenfield, MA. Special thanks to Straw Dog Writers Guild and The LAVA Center for co-hosting this event.

Theresa Okokon is an award-winning writer, storyteller, and teacher. A Wisconsinite living in New England, she is the co-host of Stories From The Stag, which has over 23,000 subscribers on YouTube. In addition to writing and performing her own stories, Theresa also teaches storytelling and writing, coaches other tellers, hosts storytelling events, and collaborates with nonprofits on narrative-driven special projects and events. An alum of both the Memoir Incubator and Essay Incubator programs at GrubStreet, Theresa’s memoir of essays about memory, family stories, and the death of her father — titled WHO I ALWAYS WAS (Atria Books, 2025). Her essay Me Llamo Theresa, which is in WHO I ALWAYS WAS, was originally published in Hippocampus Magazine and was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize.

Purchase your copy of WHO I ALWAYS WAS via Black Writers Read's Bookshop link here.

Please visit Theresa’s website at theresaokokon.com to learn more about her and her body of work.

You can find The LAVA Center online at thelavacenter.org and Straw Dog Writers Guild online at strawdogwriters.org.

Find Theresa on Instagram: @ohh.jeezzz

Find The LAVA Center on Instagram: @thelavacenter

Find Straw Dog Writers Guild on Instagram: @strawdogwriters

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