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Resources

The field of Transformative Language Arts is constantly growing and creative practitioners are always developing their practice.  The result is a broad range of information about a large number of interconnected topics that could all be used in the practice of TLA.  As a service to those interested in expanding their own work and expanding modalities, the TLA Network has gathered information that may be of use.

TLA Certification and Education

TLA Foundations Certification: An introduction to or enhancement of TLA in theory and practice with opportunities for reflecting and action on ethical work, community networking, and TLA in action.

MA in Transformative Language Arts at Goddard College: Goddard College’s Individualized MA , Health Arts and Sciences, and Social Innovation and Sustainability programs offer a 48-hour master’s degree and 36-hour accelerated degree (for people with extensive experience) in Transformative Language Arts that includes your own development as a writer, storyteller, performer, etc.; study of TLA in general and a specific area of TLA; ample resources to support you in designing, implementing and assessing a community-based practicum; and guidance in creating a large project, manuscript, curriculum or study for your thesis. Low-residency program allows you to live anywhere, and work from home, visiting the campus in central Vermont for week-long residencies twice each year.

The Power of Words: 

A Transformative Language Arts Reader

edited by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg & Janet Tallman

This groundbreaking book on the written, spoken and sung word for individual and community transformation encompasses writing, storytelling, songwriting, drama, performance, and other forms of language as a personal and collective tool for liberation. Whether through community storytelling for elders, individual journaling for self-discovery, or interdisciplinary drama for underserved youth, transformative language artists create greater opportunities for people to be heard, witnessed, and to become agents of change in their lives and communities.

Contributors: David Abram, Shaun McNiff, Pat Schneider, Katherine Towler, Gail Rosen, Sharon Bray, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Irene Borger, Caren Neile, Carol Henderson, Denise Low, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Karen Campbell, Mandy Carr, Jeanne Hewell Chambers, Francis Charet, Patricia Fontaine, Linda Garrett, Jackson Gillman, Greg Greenway, Debbie Harris-Mead, Yvette Hyater-Adams, Kelley Hunt, Lana Leonard, Katt Lissard, Perie Longo, Christopher Maier, Deidre McCalla, Nancy Morgan, Rebecca Goodall, Rhonda Patzia, Nina Ricker, Pam Roberts, Nancy Shapiro, Jim Sparrell, Janet Tallman, Shelley Vermilya, Anna Viadero, and Scott Youmans.

This landmark book reveals the broad landscape shaped by the power of the word.

 –Shaun McNiff, author of Art Heals, Trust the Process, Art as Medicine, and dean at Lesley University

An absorbing, inspiring collection from some of the best original thinkers in the field of transformative language arts.

– Kathleen Adams, Director, Center for Journal Therapy; Author, Journal to the Self

This is the book we have been waiting for!

– Pat Schneider, author of Writing Alone and With Others, and founder of Amherst Writers and Artists

The Power of Words: A Transformative Language Arts Reader – almost 500 pages on social and personal transformation through the spoken, written and sung word – is now available:

Buy a Softcover or Hardcover through Amazon.

Recommended Reading

The field of TLA is multi-disciplinary and expansive. Please consult the Goddard Resource Center for extensive readings.  What follows here is a list of some of the most referenced books in TLA.

The Power of Words: A Transformative Language Arts Reader , published by the TLA Network, is the largest single, explicitly TLA-focused book available.  It is a collection of essays by the field's leading scholars and practitioners and is a great place to start (scroll down for details!).  

Transformative Language Arts in Action, co-edited by Ruth Farmer and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, was published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2014.
In this landmark anthology, Transformative Language Artists share their stories, scholarship and practices for a more just and peaceful world, from a Hmong storyteller and spoken word artist weaving traditions with contemporary immigrant challenges in Philadelphia, to a playwright raising awareness of AIDS/HIV prevention.

Other texts related are below.

  • Opening Up by James Pennebaker
  • Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise deSalvo
  • Art as a Way of Knowing by Shaun McNiff
  • Writing for Your Life by Deena Metzger
  • Theater of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal
  • The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram
  • How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch
  • Poetry as Survival by Gregory Orr
  • Writing Alone and with Others by Pat Schnieder
  • Women Who Run with Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
  • The Way of the Journal by Kathleen Adams
  • Poetic Medicine by John Fox
  • Life's Companion by Christina Baldwin
  • Callings by Greg Levoy
  • The Writing Cure, edited by Lopore and Smyth
  • Creating a Storytelling Tradition by Robin Moore
  • Inventing the Truth by William Zissner
  • Narrative Medicine by Lewis Mehl Madrona
  • Poetry as Healer by Jack Leedy
  • Poetry Therapy edited by Nick Mazza
  • Storytelling and the Act of Imagination by Nancy Mellon
  • The Storytelling Coach by Doug Lipman and Jay O'Callahan
  • Acting for Real: Drama Therapy: Process, Technique, and Performance by Renee Emanah
  • Our Secret Territory by Laura Simms
  • Deepening Community by Paul Born
  • The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  • Catch The Fire by Peggy Taylor and Charlie Murphy
  • The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

"The Transformative Language Arts Network" is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Kansas, P.O. Box 442633, Lawrence, KS 66044

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