On Thursday, the Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) is partnering with the Selma Center for Nonviolence, Truth and Reconciliation (SCNTR) and Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) partners to host the TenX9 storytelling series at the By the River Center for Humanity on Water Avenue at 6:30 p.m.

The event will feature nine storytellers sharing their personal stories in 10 minute increments around the theme of “Growing up in Selma.”

“TenX9 is not designed to provide a night of professional storytelling,” said TenX9 Nashville Founder Michael McRay in a BBCF press release. “It will always be a place for the nervous and unsure, a place for new storytellers to ‘give it a go.’ We welcome a range of humans onto the stage – some polished storytellers, others most certainly not – but all embodying the messiness of human stories.”

Launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2011, TenX9 has spread across the globe to Scotland, England, Australia and cities across the United States.

McRay has been working with people in Selma to build its own storytelling event.

The BBCF press release notes that the goal of the event is the bring “folks together over food and story.”

Callie Greer of Mothers Against All Violence in Solidarity (MAAVIS) will be cooking up chili appetizers for the event and hot cider will be provided by the local cooperative.

SCNTR organizers Summer Sturdivant and Brendan O’Connor have been on the hunt for a good mix of storytellers, seeking “intergenerational” stories from people young and old, as well as a variety of topics.

“I feel the intergenerational piece is essential to this event because it helps bridge the gap between different age groups and shows we have more in common than we know,” Sturdivant said.

The press release notes that “sharing truth and relationship building across the community” are some of TRHT Selma’s primary objectives in instilling  “transformative healing and positive community change in Selma.”

For more information on TRHT Selma, visit blackbeltfound.org.

For more information on the event or to RSVP, visit bit.ly//tenx9selma-2019-11.