One of our most popular events of the year, each Moth Mainstage features simple, old-fashioned storytelling by five wildly divergent raconteurs who develop and shape their stories with The Moth’s directors.
This year’s theme is Coming Home. Storytellers include Morgan Balavage, Chiwoza Bandawe, Susan Mueni, George Sumner, and David Whyte, with host Jon Goode.
Morgan Balavagehas been writing intermittently about her life since she was first published at the age of 11 in a book called Kidz Rule The Net. She splits her time between Baja and Los Angeles, where she teaches yoga and is a business coach for yoga teachers with a global clientele.
Chiwoza Bandawe is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, Malawi. He is a Clinical Psychologist who has also lectured at the University of Cape Town. As a practicing psychologist, he opened his own clinic: Harmony Mental Wellness Solutions in Blantyre, Malawi in 2019. As an avid story teller and reader, he regularly uses stories in his therapeutic work. He has published three mental health education books: Mind Tips: A Psychology of Practical Living Skills for Malawi (2005), Mind Tools to Sharpen Your Mental Health (2006) and Practical uMunthu Psychology (2010). He is a Fellow of the 2020 Aspen New Voices Fellowship. In 2022 he partici- pated in the first Moth Global Masters Class in Nairobi, Kenya. He has a regular column in the Malawi Weekend Nation newspaper which seeks to promote mental health literacy. He has given numerous mental health talks to local and international conferences, youth groups, organisations and churches.
Jon Goode is an Emmy nominated writer raised in Richmond, VA and currently residing in Atlanta, GA. Jon’s work has been featured on CNN, HBO, VH1, MTV, TVOne, and BET. His writing earned him the 2006 Pro- max Gold for the best copyright in North America, and in 2022 he won a gold American Advertising Award, and a Silver Telly. Jon’s debut novel, Mydas, was a #1 new title on Amazon and is available wherever you buy books. Jon is the current host of The Moth, Atlanta. IG @jon_goode
Susan Mueni from Nairobi, Kenya is passionate about working with girls and women, and her work revolves around gender equality and girls and women empowerment. She is the founder and executive director of Making A Difference (MAD) Sisters, a women-led community-based organization that exists to champion for the safety and wellbeing of women and girls in the informal settlement of Kibera.
George Sumner lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Tina Hose. One of six siblings, George was raised in rural Utah, but says he grew up in Viet- nam, where he served as a helicopter pilot. George enjoyed a firefighter career in Salt Lake City and a second career as fire chief in suburban Bountiful, Utah. George took job-related college classes all during his career, getting Associate Degrees in Fire Science and Paramedic, Bachelors in Social Studies and a Masters of Public Administration. In retirement, George and Tina are active in community and political affairs, serving on community councils and non-profit boards. They enjoy travel, especially visiting their friends and family scattered throughout America.
David Whyte grew up with a strong, imaginative influence from his Irish mother among the hills and valleys of his father’s Yorkshire. He now makes his home in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The author of eleven books of poetry and four books of prose, David Whyte holds a degree in Marine Zoology and has traveled extensively, including living and working as a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands and leading anthropological and natural history expeditions in the Andes, Amazon and Himalaya. He brings this wealth of experience to his poetry, lectures and workshops. His life as a poet has created a readership and listener- ship in three normally mutually exclusive areas: the literate world of read- ings that most poets inhabit, the psychological and theological worlds of philosophical enquiry and the world of vocation, work and organizational leadership. David Whyte is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development, where he works with many European, American and international companies. He is the re- cipient of two honorary degrees: from Neumann College in Pennsylvania and Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. In organizational settings, using poetry and thoughtful commentary, he illustrates how we can foster qualities of courage and engagement; qualities needed if we are to respond to today’s call for increased creativity and adaptability in the workplace. He brings a unique and important contribution to our understanding of the nature of individual and organizational change, particularly through his unique perspectives on Conversational Leadership. In addition, David Whyte has authored a collection of audio lectures, a DVD and three albums of poetry and music.
