SouthWest Writers Takes it on the Road
by Jim Tritten
Reading stories of healing in public is an integral part of the healing process. Veterans and family members who were published in Holes in Our Hearts (2023) or Unbreaking the Circle (2025), or who attended the training program we held in 2024, conducted in-person and virtual public readings featuring their journeys of healing. This program was funded by New Mexico Arts (NMA) and private donations.
Priority was given to counties that have been underrepresented in previous events. SouthWest Writers (SWW) conducted an aggressive outreach program and an online platform that expanded our reach into a significant portion of rural New Mexico. In-person programs were held in Alamogordo, Belén, Española, Rio Rancho, Roswell, and Tijeras, and included audience members who traveled from other counties to attend. An online program originating from Albuquerque reached participants throughout the state. The virtual program allowed us to bring in readers who were included in our anthologies as New Mexico constituents but were no longer domiciled here. This included a National Guard member now living in Utah and two veterans who relocated to Arizona and North Carolina.
The twenty-eight different authors who conducted readings and shared the process with attendees benefited from public discussion, in which they read their stories to strangers. This both supported the healing process and gave the participants new insights into how their stories affect individuals who have never been exposed to military life.
SWW managed an aggressive outreach program, and the online platform expanded our reach into a significant portion of rural New Mexico. Our reach this year included the following eleven counties: Bernalillo, Chavez, Doña Ana, Grant, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Taos, and Valencia.
We learned that the most effective way to conduct an outreach program was to partner with organizations that already have scheduled meetings that need speakers, rather than cold advertising and hoping participants will attend an event they do not recognize or an organization they are not familiar with.
SWW took the opportunity to meet with veterans and family members to solicit their participation in a planned 2027 military-themed anthology and to acquaint them with opportunities to participate in additional writing programs offered by local centers of higher learning, private volunteer organizations that support writing, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. SouthWest Writers picked up two new members as a result of this exposure.
The total audience reached was 159. This number will increase as individuals watch the YouTube video recorded presentation of our live Zoom readings held on 27 May 2026. We estimate the total number of participants will reach 200, with those who were not able to attend the live session but will view the recording. SWW thanks, on behalf of the active-duty military, veterans, family members, and caregivers whose healing has been enhanced by their participation in this project, New Mexico Arts, for their continued sponsorship of our efforts to promote the healing of veterans, active-duty service members, family members, and caregivers through the arts.