StoryCorps Founder David Isay to Speak as Part of Holy Cross Second-Year Program

WORCESTER, Mass. – David Isay, StoryCorps founder and editor of Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project, will speak on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross. Following his talk, Isay will sign copies of his book, which was the common summer reading for Holy Cross students entering their sophomore year.  Books will be available for purchase at the event, which is free and open to the public.

A radio documentary producer, Isay has been documenting American lives for more than two decades.  In 2003, he founded StoryCorps—one of the most ambitious oral-history projects in U.S. history—to record and preserve extraordinary tales from ordinary Americans.

To date, more than 30,000 stories have been recorded across the countries. The stories are preserved in a special archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and selected stories are broadcast on NPR.

Prior to creating StoryCorps, Isay founded Sound Portraits Productions, which gave people in hard-to-reach corners of America access to a tape recorder and microphone and helped them tell their own stories.  Isay is the author (or co-author) of four books based on Sound Portraits radio stories, including Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago and Flophouse.

Isay’s work has won nearly every award in broadcasting, including five Peabody awards.  He is also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a United States Artists Fellowship.

Isay’s keynote lecture is the culmination of Holy Cross’ Second-Year Opportunities Program (2YO).  The program, one of the few of its kind in the nation, provides opportunities for sophomores to reflect on their academic goals and progress in order to make the most of their three remaining years at Holy Cross. Through a common reading, advising, and a keynote address to the sophomore class, 2YO introduces students to the value of the College’s rich curricular electives, including minors, concentrations, study away and abroad, special academic and advisory programs, internships, college and departmental honors programs, and post-baccalaureate opportunities.