Invisible Wounds of War: Writing Through Injury

Presented By
Brian Turner, Rita Brock, George Dent

The psychological toll of military combat was underscored a year ago by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which found suicide rates more than 20 percent higher for America’s veterans than non-veterans. The Veterans Writing Workshop is designed to address those “invisible wounds,” offering a creative outlet for sharing thoughts and experiences or for exploring original ideas.

The first of five weekly sessions at the Library’s Plaza Branch opens with a public presentation featuring Iraq War veteran and acclaimed author and poet Brian Turner. He joins Rita Brock, senior vice president of moral injury programs for the nonprofit Volunteers of America, and George Dent, a trauma/PTSD psychologist, in discussing PTSD, moral injury (the inability to reconcile wartime actions with a personal moral code) and other traumas and how writing and other creative arts can help in recovery.

Presented by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and Missouri Humanities Council. Co-sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Arts Council, Mid-Continent Public Library, Moral Injury Association of America, and The Writers Place.

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More about the 2018 Veterans Writing Workshop

The Veterans Writing Workshop is designed to help veterans, active military, and their family members develop writing and narrative skills that can empower them to tell their stories, whether they are true-life accounts or wholly original tales. Each of the sessions is free and conducted by professional writers and educators; they provide the same high level of instruction as a college or university writing course.

All Veterans Writing Workshop sessions take place on Saturdays, September 15 through October 13, at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St. The workshop series is free and open to past or present military members and family members of veterans. Attendees must register for each session and are strongly encouraged to attend all five.


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Invisible Wounds of War: Writing Through Injury

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Adults