Carolyn Holbrook is founder and Artistic/Executive Director of More Than a Single Story. Her memoir, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify, won the 2021 Minnesota Book Award for Memoir and Creative Nonfiction. She is co-editor with David Mura of the anthology, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World (Minn 2021), and is co-author with Arleta Little of civil rights icon, Dr. Josie R. Johnson’s memoir, Hope In the Struggle (Minn 2019) and Ordinary People, Extraordinary Journeys: How the St. Paul Companies Leadership Initiatives in Neighborhoods Program Changed Lives and Communities (2015). Her essays have appeared in numerous anthologies, including Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota (MNHS 2015) and A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota (MNHS 2016). Her TEDx talk, “The Life you Live is the Legacy You will Leave” was presented at Concordia College, Moorhead, MN (2022). She is recipient of numerous grants, fellowships and awards including the Minnesota Book Awards Kay Sexton Award (2010), Exemplary Teacher, Hamline University (2014), 50 over 50 (2017), Celebrate the Sistahs (2020), Flowers Now! (2024), and several MN State Arts Board grants (2015-2023). She teaches in the Loft’s yearlong memoir & creative nonfiction project, and other community venues. She was CNF Contributing Editor of Water~Stone Review (Hamline University 2021-2022), and Creative Nonfiction mentor for the Loft Mentor Series in 2015-2016. https://www.carolynleeholbrook.com/

https://morethanasinglestory.com/

Carolyn Holbrook is a recipient of fiscal year 2020 Artist Initiative, and fiscal years 2021-2023 Creative Support for Individuals grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.