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Word Travels: Refugee and Immigrant Voice and Visibility. In autumn of 2018, Merna traveled to Europe to realize a longstanding goal of working with refugees in Berlin and Athens, two of Europe’s major hubs for immigration. After producing and editing seven published poetry anthologies from the Stories of Arrival: Refugee & Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry project, Merna felt the strong sense that wider dissemination of refugee and immigrant voices was needed, especially from adult and inter-generational groups. Her vision to extend the project took shape just at the time when border issues and negative rhetoric about immigrants and refugees were heightened and increasingly punitive and cruel policies were put in place. These policy changes motivated Merna to travel and seek out organizations abroad that modeled and implemented more humane approaches to the refugee crises. In the fall of 2018, she volunteered as a poet and storyteller with refugee women and children in Berlin and in Athens. (Read more here: https://teachersandwritersmagazine.org/poems-without-borders-writing-to- bear-witness-5977.htm) This experience influenced her desire to expand and deepen the reach of her work which is reflected in the new name she has adopted for her continued work with immigrants and refugees—Word Travels. Plans for the future Word Travels projects will continue to celebrate the courage and vulnerability it takes to write about the losses interwoven with exile and the strength it takes to remain hopeful. A belief in the power of writing that tells these stories of is fundamental to these projects. The poems, stories and art created through this endeavor will remind all of us of our capacities to overcome immense suffering with the determination to dream a better life. Widening the community spaces to receive the poems, stories, visual poems and murals created in Word Travels projects will help dispel stereotypes and unfounded fears with the voices we all need to hear. The goal for Word Travels projects of expanded community outreach for refugee and immigrant groups of all ages is in full recognition of the power of stories, poetry and art to build bridges between different people and cultures rather than walls. In light of the current and harmful divisiveness in the USA and abroad this work could not be more urgent. Merna is grateful to have received a 2020-2022 King County 4 Culture grant in support of this continued work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602867974871-9PTUQ1D58317E4FWTDQJ/MH_AthensPoetry.jpg Word Travels The goal for Word Travels projects of expanded community outreach for refugee and immigrant groups of all ages is in full recognition of the power of stories, poetry and art to build bridges between different people and cultures rather than walls. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602620652471-1Y18K2F7ZUVQQFZAMW24/MH_4CultureLogo.jpg Word Travels https://www.mernahecht.com/about daily 0.75 2026-03-23 https://www.mernahecht.com/broadsides daily 0.75 2020-10-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1600891068861-OYAXHLKGE8VTDRB8667F/ELAF.jpg Image Library https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1600889629243-79UZ98XHMZWCZD0MYLSS/ABDUL.jpg 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https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1600892402792-51JT33ZLFQX8C4XWAUIO/KANKOU.jpg Image Library https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1600892424503-PJL9RX5C3SE6T9SD40UZ/JHARNA.jpg Image Library https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1600892441473-7SP6BLL3TY8Y4FH6GWM5/JAYMARK.jpg Image Library https://www.mernahecht.com/projects-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1598300999780-9Q3I4AXZGZLT5FWWDS3O/MH_Arrival1.jpg Projects - STORIES OF ARRIVAL: REFUGEE & IMMIGRANT YOUTH VOICES POETRY PROJECT Founded by Merna in 2009, the Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry project takes place at Foster High School in Tukwila, WA, one of the most language and culturally diverse high schools in the U.S. Foster High School ELL teacher Carrie Stradley co-directs the project with Merna. The project takes place in Carrie’s classroom. From the outset, the project has been affiliated with the Institute for Poetic Medicine (IPM) as an IPM Poetry Partner Project as well as a longstanding partnership with Seattle’s Jack Straw Cultural Center. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1599169723810-1NKU0NLA7TOYNOCCDUC8/MH_Arrival2.jpg Projects - STORIES OF ARRIVAL: A NEW DIRECTION . In 2019-2020, Merna and Foster High School ELL teacher, Carrie Stradley took a new direction for the Stories of Arrival Poetry project, with an ambitious poetry poster project. The creation of visual poems (broadsides) shows the deep humanity of each young person in the project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1598298837534-YIKF5GDFWFLQUTUHIK1S/MH_WordTravels.jpg Projects - WORD TRAVELS: REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT VOICE AND VISIBILITY In autumn of 2018 Merna traveled to Europe to realize a longstanding goal of working with refugees in Berlin and Athens, two of Europe’s major hubs for immigration. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1598558015527-ZRLS4K37FOYI277DE4M1/MELISSA+KOCH+GARDEN+PAINTING.jpg Projects - NAMASTE GARDEN PROJECT The new Word Travels project at the Namaste Garden in Tukwila, WA is part of the IRC New Roots program. https://www.mernahecht.com/read-what-students-have-to-say daily 0.75 2020-10-22 https://www.mernahecht.com/classes-workshops-presentations daily 0.75 2026-03-30 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https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602618940117-OHWO74BT6AC348LAMVDY/14-A++Viet.jpg See More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602618944185-OSMKDBP8O07K10MGECCW/FARDOWSA+WhoseKindnessBlooms.jpg See More https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602618942391-1XJ7WWIPMKUOVXI49C9Z/Fardowsa.jpg See More https://www.mernahecht.com/sa2 daily 0.75 2021-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602613828854-UQGPCNT1ZH0GXJV8ZZMK/SOAP_RodasNegussie.jpg Stories of Arrival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1601921575050-8OQ4HG1PPN4R1OG8PISM/NAMASTE+%282%29.jpg Stories of Arrival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602613788551-JV5SZAYSV7YDMG8Q0TNB/SOAP_JamesMung.jpg Stories of Arrival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1601921599310-I0E9RO38BJJZ825SHB60/NAMASTE+4.jpg Stories of Arrival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602613797000-8DHBKZXT9UERAFLU32OF/SOAP_VuNguyen.jpg Stories of Arrival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1601921170923-HBFVP8IE7EL3PC6G77BI/NAMASTE3.jpg Stories of Arrival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602613030581-0EGO9M6RPAYGLCAJW5US/MH_Stories.jpg Stories of Arrival https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602613475113-G81FR8EO7TYI6ISASFWU/MH_OurTable_BkCover.jpg Stories of Arrival - Stories of Arrival in Collaboration with Project Feast As the project has grown, so too Merna’s commitment to nourishing community partnerships. In 2015 Merna established an intergenerational collaboration with Project Feast, an organization that serves refugee women that was located at the Tukwila Community Center and is now in Kent. The Project Feast mission is to “transform the lives of refugees and immigrants by providing pathways to sustainable employment in the local food industry and to enrich communities through exploring ethnic culture and cuisine.” The anthology that resulted from this collaboration brims with memories of homeland gardens, watercolors of fruits and vegetables, treasured family and community recipes, and interviews with the Project Feast cooks conducted by the students. The poetry connects food to place, family, culture and memory. The poems also address themes of food scarcity and survival. The anthology is titled Our Table of Memories: Food and Poetry of Spirit, Homeland and Tradition https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602619484133-2PMA1JGJSSNGT0P8SSNV/MH_HoldingEarth_BkCover.jpg Stories of Arrival - Stories of Arrival in collaboration with the IRC New Roots Program at the Namaste Garden. The International Rescue Committee, (IRC), Namaste Garden is located directly behind Foster High School. The garden is an IRC New Roots Program for refugee gardeners which also has a focus on youth programs that support learning about food systems and sustainability from a social justice perspective. During this collaborative project the students had the opportunity for working and learning in the Namaste Garden. The question of “How should we care for the earth and each other?” was at the heart of the 2017 poetry project from which the anthology, Holding the Earth Together: Youth Voices Speak for Our World was created. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1612979804444-GF6EGJKK9ZDAU40H42S8/NEW+SHUNPIKE+LOGO++XScopy.png Stories of Arrival https://www.mernahecht.com/new-book daily 0.75 2021-01-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1610395432442-N36ZKPOSAQEQPOIVUVRU/WeAreTheFuture_FrontCover+%281%29.jpg New Book - Just published! The newest book from the Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry Project We Are the Future: Poems with A Voice for Peace is now available in a limited edition. Publication as a trade book is slated for late spring, 2021 by Seattle's Chin Music Press. Proceeds from this full color book of heartfelt poems and striking images will directly benefit the Stories of Arrival project. Contact Merna to purchase one of the limited copies. https://www.mernahecht.com/home-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/43112f70-41f1-4799-891b-f5c2f07b1b92/BOOK+COVER.jpg https://www.mernahecht.com/about-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1601580685851-9NGMPO7OKRV8TEC06IET/MH_Portrait11.jpg About (Copy) - When we discover that we can wrap words around our losses, our hopes and our dreams, our voices become visible and we are all richer for it. Merna is a passionate social justice educator who brings her lifelong love of the written and spoken word to her teaching. She is a nationally known storyteller, a teaching artist and a published poet and essayist. As a 2008 recipient of a National Storytelling Network Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling, Merna brought storytelling and poetry to a pilot project at BRIDGES: A Center for Grieving Children in Tacoma, WA. The BRIDGES project with young people experiencing life altering trauma and loss was a stepping stone toward Merna’s work with refugees and immigrants who had lost loved ones and a known way of life. In 2009, she founded the Stories of Arrival: Refugee and Immigrant Youth Voices Poetry Project at Foster High School in Tukwila, WA which has received national recognition for bringing refugee and immigrant stories of loss and hope into wide public awareness. https://www.mernahecht.com/projects daily 0.75 2026-02-16 https://www.mernahecht.com/classes-workshops-presentations-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602365717741-N1STI12RA5LFFSZQ9P52/MH_Classes.jpg Classes & More (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602621798970-X124OVSF3VWLLVNIULTL/MH_TodandMH.jpg Classes & More (Copy) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602365835734-E9JB31I9OX6FBCBMXE8F/MH_Storytelling.jpg Classes & More (Copy) https://www.mernahecht.com/publications-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1611170801435-YUL1MPYL1HOZQ5H9UO1E/WeAreTheFuture_Cover_Webv2.jpg Publications (Copy) - WA State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna and author of the forward to “We Are the Future” "Reading the book, looking at the poets' beautiful faces fills me with hope. Thank you for creating spaces for them to believe in themselves. Thank you for inspiring us!" WA State Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1598303765270-0IZRR0OS012D9CKA1IT0/MH_HoldingEarth_BkCover.jpg Publications (Copy) - Holding the Earth Together: Youth Voices Speak for Our World The groundbreaking Stories of Arrival Refugee & Immigrant Youth Poetry Project is in its seventh year in Seattle, and this anthology offers the fruit of dozens of students' efforts as English Language Learners to put their wrenching experiences of migration into words, using the power of poetry and the tools of art. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1598303539126-TFZBKX8M1568WB86EM9X/MH_OurTable_BkCover.jpg Publications (Copy) Our Table of Memories invites readers to consider the spicy, delicious connections between food, poetry and stories. The food-themed poetry and recipes are part of an exciting first-time collaboration between Project Feast and the Stories of Arrival: Youth Voices Poetry Project, edited and directed by Merna Ann Hecht. Both serve to help refugees and immigrants share their strengths and experiences, and by doing so, literally and metaphorically nourish the larger community. https://www.mernahecht.com/publications daily 0.75 2026-03-30 https://www.mernahecht.com/press-1 daily 0.75 2026-02-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602867676085-IPJ01QBPLORYLARM2FUU/MH_LateOnVashon2.jpg Press (Copy) - It’s Late On Vashon. Every First Monday at 9pm, VCA broadcasts from our living room to yours. Episode III will have a spoken word theme. Host, Darragh Kennan will interview social justice educator, teaching artist, poet & Storyteller, Merna Hecht; and Vashon student and spoken word Artist, Malea Dickerson will perform. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602867106035-GGAUW2FTY13WONOWT7C3/MH_VashonLive.jpg Press (Copy) - Vashon Live Presents: Merna Ann Hecht Merna Ann Hecht is a nationally known storyteller, poet, essayist and teaching artist. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602103195699-9W20MRSXY6POKV5KIDOS/MH_SkipStones.jpg Press (Copy) - Stories of Arrival: Refugee & Immigrant Youth Voices - Poems by Foster High School Students, Washington https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1599169394789-ISJX1BW3LDG8H2VTK7TM/MH_Tomatoes.jpg Press (Copy) - MERNA HECHT SPEAKS OF PEACE, POWER, COOKING AND COMMUNITY - Interview with Merna Ann Hecht, by Rachel Rose, poet laureate of British Columbia, Canada https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1599169068155-CGM1BY1FB25IKSLDEU1G/MH_GardenTable.jpg Press (Copy) - MERNA ANN HECHT AND OUR TABLE OF MEMORIES. …These two women and their projects have created Our Table of Memories: Food & Poetry of Spirit, Homeland & Tradition. It’s a beautiful book, part poetry by high school students, part recipes from the traditional cooks from their countries, and part art… By publishing this interview with Merna Hecht, it is the hope of Bookology’s editors that you will be inspired to consider a program like this in your own community. - Interview in Bookology Magazine https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1599169327788-ZH15CDOW20B4GQNMP73O/MH_WhiteFlw.jpg Press (Copy) - TASTE OF BITTERNESS: TUKWILA STUDENTS TELL REFUGEE EXPERIENCE THROUGH FOOD When Abdirahman Abdi, 14, arrived at one of the largest refugee camps in the world, he said the food tasted of bitterness. “They gave us what I like to call ‘jail food,’ because we wouldn’t be used to it,” Abdi said. “Only our little sisters and brothers would eat it.” Abdi is now a student at Foster High School in Tukwila… He wrote a poem about food and the refugee experience for his poetry class at Foster, where 80 percent of the students are refugees or immigrants. - National Public Radio story (recording and transcript) on KUOW https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1603237105099-043WE7QTUU29BFRSUJ6A/MH_2020_ElliottBayBooks_PROGRAM_v2-1.jpg Press (Copy) - From Struggle to Survival: Creating Beauty Out of Tragedy: A Winter's Evening of Music, Poetry and Storytelling with Claudia Castro Luna, Michelle Dodson, Hilary Field, Merna Ann Hecht & Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, Elliot Bay Bookstore, Seattle, 2020. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1603237161501-NQFRLD245O585NQ58LV8/MH_SingingHope_PosterProof.jpg Press (Copy) - Singing Hope in Dark Times with Cellist Michelle Dodson. A storytelling fundraiser for the Northwest Detention Center, Black Cat Café, Vashon, 2019 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602107776502-9FMTCG32OXG5LVFLQPTS/MH_Storytellingworkshop2.jpg Press (Copy) THE STORYTELLER’S VOICE: Crafting the Power of Personal Stories, Moscow, ID, 2019. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602107902173-LRQUPE3I9QZ5O2GAR45C/MH_Food+Summit2019flyer.jpg Press (Copy) - The Palouse Tables Project Food Summit, 2019, “Resilience and Regeneration.” Keynote: “The Power of Storytelling: Stories are Us.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602203600420-6DECRFEE5I9KRD7EMKGR/MH_LopezIsland.jpg Press (Copy) - The Lopez Island Family Resource Center (LIFRC) invites you to attend our Annual Fundraiser on Saturday, July 7 at 6:00 pm at Lopez Center for Community and the Arts (LCCA.) Our featured guest this year is nationally known storyteller, social justice educator, poet and essayist Merna Ann Hecht. https://www.mernahecht.com/blog daily 0.75 2026-03-30 https://www.mernahecht.com/press-archive daily 0.75 2026-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602867676085-IPJ01QBPLORYLARM2FUU/MH_LateOnVashon2.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602867106035-GGAUW2FTY13WONOWT7C3/MH_VashonLive.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602103195699-9W20MRSXY6POKV5KIDOS/MH_SkipStones.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1599169394789-ISJX1BW3LDG8H2VTK7TM/MH_Tomatoes.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1599169068155-CGM1BY1FB25IKSLDEU1G/MH_GardenTable.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1599169327788-ZH15CDOW20B4GQNMP73O/MH_WhiteFlw.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1603237105099-043WE7QTUU29BFRSUJ6A/MH_2020_ElliottBayBooks_PROGRAM_v2-1.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602107776502-9FMTCG32OXG5LVFLQPTS/MH_Storytellingworkshop2.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1603237161501-NQFRLD245O585NQ58LV8/MH_SingingHope_PosterProof.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602107902173-LRQUPE3I9QZ5O2GAR45C/MH_Food+Summit2019flyer.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f3af3daddeaa2273fbcd71f/1602203600420-6DECRFEE5I9KRD7EMKGR/MH_LopezIsland.jpg