As part of Big Read 2025, a free, city-wide reading and public engagement initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, a popular show-and-tell storytelling event hosted by writer and director David Wayne Reed returns with a focus on soma, or the body, exploring how we live in our bodies, how we relate to our physical selves, and how our bodies carry us through the world.

Throughout its five-year run, the stories at each event were sparked by an object and followed a theme, such as winning, time, and unwanted gifts.

The Library installment features five new stories from Kansas City-based creatives, including Reed, Big Read featured author Rebekah Taussig, musician and amputee advocate Billy Brimblecom, poet Canese Jarboe, and visual artist and educator Kathy Liao.

There’s a “power of sharing one’s own story on stage,” Reed says, “and the palpable empathy … from the audience.”

This event will be streamed live at YouTube.com/kclibrary. No RSVP is required to view the livestream. The video will also be available for on-demand viewing after the event.

ASL interpreters at featured presentation.

Supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, the City of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, the Health Forward Foundation, and the Estelle S. and Robert A. Long Ellis Foundation. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. El Proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperacion con Arts Midwest.