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About Me.

I’m an award-winning writer, storytelling and conflict consultant, and certified experiential coach. My work explores how storytelling can create change, make meaning, inspire action, cultivate connection, and transform division. I work with individuals, groups, and organizations around the world to find, craft, and tell their most meaningful stories.

I live with my pre-schooler in Nashville, Tennessee on land once inhabited by the Shawnee, Cherokee, and Yuchi people.

My work in storytelling has focused on everything from organizational storytelling, to storytelling for advocacy and social change, to narrative-driven strategy, to storytelling for empathy and connection, to storytelling for entertainment and community cohesion.

My story experience and expertise is sought-after by all types of organizations—from nonprofits like Narrative 4 and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, to peacebuilding organizations like +Peace and the Taghyeer Change Movement, to musical groups and museums, to corporations like Accenture and VMware, to government-entities like NASA, and more.

My story-work has taken me the world over. With over 20 years of visits to Israel and Palestine, I found a deep passion for peacebuilding that has since led me into South Africa, Rwanda, Ireland, and U.S. prisons. During my graduate studies in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation at Trinity College Dublin, I lived in Belfast and fell in love with live public storytelling and the use of story as a tool for transforming conflict. From 2013-2021, I produced and hosted Tenx9 Nashville, a Belfast-originated monthly community storytelling night for the telling of true stories on stage based on a theme.

I am the author of multiple books, published articles, and contributed book chapters. I am also the co-editor of the popular Keep Watch with Me: An Advent Reader for Peacemakersand my 2020 award-winning book I Am Not Your Enemy received praise from internationally acclaimed authors, like Ishmael Beah, Pádraig Ó Tuama, Raja Shehadeh, and National Book Award winner Colum McCann.

I have spoken across the United States, from New York City to Seattle to Malibu to Fort Worth, including TEDx Nashville in 2022. My work has been published and discussed with reputable places like Sojourners, BookPage, National Catholic Reporter, The Tennessean, The Mennonite World, The Porch Magazine, and Plough Magazine.

I live in Nashville, Tennessee. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram @michaeltmcray.

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Bios for Event Use

TWO SENTENCE BIO:

Michael McRay is a Nashville-based writer, facilitator, and story-practitioner, and the award-winning author of I Am Not Your Enemy. You can learn more at www.michaelmcray.com and @michael.mcray on Instagram.

SHORT BIO:

Michael McRay is an award-winning author and seasoned facilitator. He works with organizations around the world as a storytelling and conflict resolution consultant. Michael writes and speaks on issues of story, conflict, and reconciliation. He lives in Nashville, TN, with his family. You can learn more at http://www.michaelmcray.com and @michael.mcray on Instagram.

LONG BIO:

Michael McRay is an accomplished writer and seasoned facilitator. He’s the author of multiple books, including his 2020 award-winning publication I Am Not Your Enemy: Stories to Transform a Divided World. He works with organizations around the world as a storytelling and conflict resolution consultant. Michael holds a Master’s in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation from Trinity College Dublin’s Belfast campus and executive certification in Public Narrative from Harvard’s Kennedy School. He lives in Nashville, TN. You can learn more at www.michaelmcray.com and @michael.mcray on Instagram.

In case you want to know…

 

Education

 

Certification, Conflict Coaching | Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, 2021

Executive Certification, Public Narrative: Leadership Storytelling, and Action | Harvard Kennedy School, 2020

M.Phil, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Studies | Trinity College Dublin at Belfast, 2013

B.A., History | Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, 2011

 

Publications

 

I Am Not Your Enemy: Stories to Transform a Divided World, foreword by Ishmael Beah (winner of 2020 Best Book Award in Social Change) | 2020

Keep Watch with Me: An Advent Reader for Peacemakers, with Claire Brown | 2019

Where the River Bends: Considering Forgiveness in the Lives of Prisoners, foreword by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu | 2015

Letters from “Apartheid Street”: A Christian Peacemaker in Occupied Palestine, foreword by Lee C. Camp | 2013

Learn More

 

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