Photos and recap from Night of 1,000 Stories 2026

What an incredible evening of celebration, community, and advancement!

Every year, as we come together for our Night of 1,000 Stories gala, it reminds the 826 Boston community of all the hard work and dedication that Boston students put into their stories, essays, poetry, and screenplays all year long. Collectively, we witness just how much of themselves the city’s youth invest in their work, inspiring us all to keep going and growing. 

The evening started with nearly 300 attendees at a lively cocktail reception at City Winery. With our signature cocktail, “The Paper Airplane,” in-hand and a Poetry-on-Demand station, the reception featured fundraising raffles with prizes from The Boston Globe, Harvard Book Store, Stephanie’s on Newbury—even a signed basketball from the Celtics. We also featured signed books from past 826 Boston speakers, authors Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Jasmine Guillory, Stephen King, and Ken Liu.

Our Executive Director Corey Yarbrough opened the program by welcoming the audience with remarks about the power of 826 Boston’s programming and an inspiring story about Rudhly, an 826 Boston alumnus who is no stranger to the Night of 1,000 Stories stage 

As a high school student, Rudhly was a regular at 826 Boston’s Writers’ Room at the John D. O’Bryant School of Math & Science (O’Bryant), a space he said he felt safe to explore his poetry and himself. Over the years, Rudhly continued to return to the Writers’ Room and ultimately became a literary magazine contributor, a public speaker, a panel moderator, a voice actor, and a published author before even leaving high school. 

At our Night of a 1,000 Stories gala in 2024, Rudhly was on stage with 826 Boston’s Literary Board member and author Desmond Hall. Rhudly’s charisma and talent caught the eye of executives from Emerson College, who ultimately offered him an opportunity to attend their college. He’s now a freshman at Emerson in the class of 2030. The story is an outstanding example of how Boston students can use the resources of 826 Boston to change the course of their lives. 

Also on stage that night was out featured student author Liliana, currently a student at the O’Bryant and part of the Youth Literary Advisory Board. Liliana read two works of poetry, titled Spring Flowers and Curiosity.

The Senator’s Remarks

State Senator Liz Miranda, an alumna of the O’Bryant, delivered exhilarating words about her own time at Boston Public Schools and the lasting power of the written word.

Miranda told the rapt audience about how her love of reading started as a child thanks to gift books that arrived in Roxbury from The Boston’s Globe’s Globe Santa program. She recalled how her mother and multiple teachers encouraged and supported her love of reading and writing. 

“Changing the Narrative” Award

Each year at our gala, we recognize a member of the Greater Boston community with the “Changing the Narrative” award, honoring someone whose work challenges existing narratives, amplifies underrepresented voices, and creates opportunities for others to share their stories. This year, we honored Glenn Jones, an award-winning anchor and reporter for NBC10 Boston. Jones shared how his time for his journalistic work elevated racial inequities that Black veterans experience in healthcare, highlighted housing insecurity for single mothers, and even stories on gentrification through the lens of Boston’s evolving sneaker culture. 

Jones said he understands that changing the narrative isn’t just about telling stories; it’s about who gets the opportunity to tell their story, how their stories are told, and how stories can be told with purpose to create better opportunities than the generation before.

Jones recently visited our Writers’ Room at the Boston International Newcomers Academy in Dorchester, spending time with students while they learned about social movements. He also took a group of students to the NBC10 Boston studios, giving them a tour and a vision of what is possible when one embraces their responsibility as a storyteller. 

Movie Magic

We also saw the premiere of Matt Watson’s beautiful film that featured  students Zayd, Kelliany, and MJ in our After-School Writing and Tutoring program. The film is about our recent screenwriting project and stop-action short films that students made with FC Academy, the grantee for thousands of media projects across the country and based in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

A Panel to Remember

We were thrilled to have writer, host, and CNN contributor Kara Swisher with us for a panel alongside  826 Boston students Liliana and Jae, and moderated by Glenn Jones. Swisher shared insights on writing, AI, and the future of journalism. The students and audience asked Swisher a wide variety of questions and she answered with wit, provocative wisdom, and inspired so much laughter! 

Every donor who gave $500 or more also received a signed copy of Kara Swisher’s Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players. 

Overall, we raised more than $265,000, and we’re working on closing the gap to reach our goal of $275,000! You can still donate $500 or more to receive a signed copy of Kara Swisher’s Burn Book: A Tech Love Story . A perfect holiday gift for the techies in your life, but supplies are limited! 

Thank you to all our new and returning sponsors: Cummings Foundation, Carole Remick Charitable Foundation, Ropes & Gray LLP, Jen & Rob Waldron, HMH, Emerson College, Jason & Keely Krantz, Waldron Contracting Services, Winchester Savings Bank, Boston Children’s Hospital, BXP, Connelly Partners, Fiduciary Trust, Granite Communications, Mintz, The Boston Globe, and our event producer AE Events.

This night would not have been possible without the support of our event committee: Co-Chairs: Benielle Sims (co-chair), Areti Sakellaris (co-chair), Christine Altieri, Kristin Barrali, Courtney DeAngelis, Kerri Ellenberger, Michele Ferrari, Lena Foster, Amy Macdonald, Ashley Ochoa, and Erin Sunderland.

Thank you to everyone who attended, took a chance on our raffle, donated during our tantalizing auctions, or bought 826 Boston student-authored books!

Thank you to NBC10 Boston for featuring the event and The Boston Globe for the recap.