Introduction

I relish telling stories. I enjoy listening to stories. I make up stories for my daughter who enjoys them except when I forget she’s eight and include scenes of gore. My best experience, listening to stories, was as a child, listening to my grandmother tell us stories as she roasted maize. My siblings and I would sit around the fire, waiting for the maize, our faces the color of fire, breathing in the smoke and smell of maize. These stories, mostly folklore, with their teachings, were always captivating to my seven-eight-nine-ten-year-old self. There was something very intimate about that setting that I long to recreate. I wish I could remember them in detail so I could write them. My grandmother has since passed on.  

When I read a story, am immersed, and I’II think about the characters long after I’ve put the book down. I’ve read a lot about how great literature leads to empathy, sympathy and compassion. This has sparked my interest to find out if stories can lead to action to find solutions to the causes and consequences of humanitarian crises. Why?

An average of 345 disasters per year affect 153 million people around the world and force more than 40,000 people every single day from their homes. In recent years, more than 120 million people each year have needed urgent humanitarian assistance and protection. There are more crises, affecting more people, and lasting longer today than a decade ago. More than 1 per cent of people across the planet are caught up in major humanitarian crises and this year, the number of people in need of protection and assistance is nearly 132 million people (OCHA 2019). Given the scale of the humanitarian crisis, its impact on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and peace and security, we must take action to find solutions to the drivers of humanitarian crises.

It is in this context that I’d like to have a conversation on how narrative fiction/storytelling can be used to advocate and mobilize action to resolve the causes and consequences of humanitarian crises. I’II review fiction stories set in countries facing humanitarian crises, review literature on the question – can reading lead to empathy and sympathy and inspire action, interview humanitarian practitioners, academics, authors, refugees and internally displaced people on this question, write about select current humanitarian crises and run a book club, and a podcast.