2026 Festival of Faith and Writing: Full Schedule

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8:00am EDT

Saturday April 18, 2026 8:00am - 8:30am EDT

Join Jess Ray for an early‑morning Matins performance—a 30‑minute gathering of song and quiet attention that invites participants into a grounded, contemplative start to the Festival day.

Speakers

Jess Ray

Jess Ray is a singer-songwriter, producer, and creative supernova based in her beloved home state of North Carolina. Crafting a new wave of music for those seeking God, Jess blends fresh sonic style with timeless truths, delicately weaving it all together with the realities of the human experience... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 8:00am - 8:30am EDT
Chapel

Matins

9:00am EDT

Christian Advocacy for the Common Good: Loving Our Neighbors in Public

Saturday April 18, 2026 9:00am - 9:45am EDT

Chapel

Advocacy for social justice can be viewed by people of faith as either dangerously radical or pityingly naive. Meyaard-Schaap has spent years pushing Christians to see it differently. By tracing its lineage through Christian history, he shares how faith-rooted advocacy through storytelling, writing, and direct action is more than merely a political act, but a public act of love for our neighbors.

Book signing follows in the Chapel Narthex 

Speakers

Kyle Meyaard-Schaap

Rev. Kyle Meyaard-Schaap is the Executive Director of the Association for a More Just Society-US. His work has been featured in news outlets such as PBS, NPR, CNN, NBC News, the New York Times, and more. He was named a Yale Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis in 2020 and to the Grist 50 Fixers cohort in 2022 or for his work on climate change education and advocacy... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 9:00am - 9:45am EDT
Chapel

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

10:30am EDT

Listening Across Distance

Saturday April 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT

Chapel

In an era of division, how do we meaningfully talk—and truly listen—to people we don’t agree with? Drawing from years of reporting and firsthand encounters, Astead Herndon reflects on how curiosity, dignity, and empathy open doors across disagreement, and explores what it means to listen without yielding truth, build trust where none seems possible, and reimagine how dialogue can shape healthier communities.

Speakers

Astead Herndon

Journalist Astead W. Herndon is a host and editorial director at Vox, where he helps lead politics coverage across text, video, audio, and social media platforms. Previously at The New York Times, he distinguished himself as a sharp, accessible voice on American politics, hosti... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 10:30am - 11:15am EDT
Chapel

Concurrent Session, Solo Session

11:45am EDT

A Conversation with Leyla K. King

Saturday April 18, 2026 11:45am - 12:30pm EDT

Chapel

In this interview, Leyla K. King explores the layered, often tender work of telling a life shaped by multiple cultures, identities, and spiritual landscapes.

Book signing follows in the Chapel Narthex

Speakers

Leyla K. King

Leyla K. King is a Palestinian-American Episcopal priest and author. She is a founding member of both Palestinian Anglicans and Clergy Allies (www.palestiniananglicans.org) and The Small Churches Big Impact Collective. She writes about her experiences as a Palestinian, a clergywo... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 11:45am - 12:30pm EDT
Chapel

Concurrent Session, Interview

2:30pm EDT

Witnessing What’s There: Writing Attention in a Wounded World

Saturday April 18, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT

Chapel

Daniel José Camacho and Alejandra Oliva explore writing as an act of paying attention—especially in places marked by structural suffering. In this conversation, they consider how faithful witnessing becomes a moral and spiritual practice, inviting writers to see clearly, name truthfully, and cultivate a gaze that honors both human dignity and the possibility of repair.

Book signing follows in the Chapel Narthex

Speakers

Daniel José Camacho

Daniel José Camacho is currently working on a book about Bartolomé de las Casas with Avid Reader Press. Previously an editor at Sojourners and Fortress Press, he won a Robert B. Silvers Foundation Grant for his essay "Saint Augustine's Slave Play," which became one of the top-t... Read More →

Alejandra Oliva

Alejandra Oliva is an essayist, embroiderer and translator. Her book, Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration, was published by Astra House, and received a Whiting Nonfiction Grant. She was the Yale Whitney Humanities Center Franke Visiting Fellow in Spring 2022... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 2:30pm - 3:15pm EDT
Chapel

Concurrent Session, Conversation

4:00pm EDT

Sacred Traces: Writing the Texture of Religious Experience

Saturday April 18, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT

Chapel

In conversation, Aaliyah Bilal and Melody Gee explore how writers draw from lived religious experience—its rituals, questions, inheritances, and contradictions—to craft resonant stories.

Book signing follows in the Chapel Narthex

Speakers

Aaliyah Bilal

Aaliyah Bilal is a fiction and nonfiction writer who focuses on the Black American Muslim experience and stories that connect Chinese and Afro-Diasporic peoples. She has experience as a director and producer of short films and she has published stories and essays with The Michiga... Read More →

Melody S. Gee

Melody S. Gee is the author of We Carry Smoke and Paper: Essays on the Grief and Hope of Conversion (University of Iowa Press, October 2024) and three books of poetry. She is the recipient of Kundiman fellowships in poetry and fiction, a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, and Artist Support Grants from the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis... Read More →

Saturday April 18, 2026 4:00pm - 4:45pm EDT
Chapel

Concurrent Session, Conversation

8:00am EDT

9:00am EDT

10:30am EDT

11:45am EDT

2:30pm EDT

4:00pm EDT

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