Emily Hooper Lansana

Emily Hooper Lansana is a community builder, a storyteller, an arts administrator, a writer, and an educator. She currently serves as senior director of programming and engagement for the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. She teaches storytelling in a variety of venues from universities to community centers. She has taught at Columbia College, the University of Chicago, DePaul University, and Chicago State University. She has served on the board of directors of the National Association of Black Storytellers and as the president of the Chicago Association of Black Storytellers. She earned her BA in theater studies from Yale University and her MA in performance studies from Northwestern University.

Lansana's work has been featured in a variety of publications, including Southern Foodways. For more than thirty years, she has performed as a storyteller and shared her work with audiences throughout Chicago and across the country. She has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival, the National Association of Black Storytellers Festival, and at a variety of museums, colleges, and performance venues. She often performs with Performance Duo: In the Spirit. She is the artistic director of SOL Collective: Storytelling by Women of Color. She enjoys passing on traditions to young people as a coach and mentor with the nationally recognized Rebirth Poetry Ensemble. Her work seeks to give voice to those whose stories are often untold, especially those of the African diaspora.