{"id":4402231483639,"date":"2026-04-15T16:21:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/?p=4402231483639"},"modified":"2026-04-15T16:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:24:02","slug":"novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/","title":{"rendered":"Novelist Colum\u00a0McCann\u00a0Visits The Commons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Keep up with everything happening in\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/philanthropy.com\/thecommons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em><u>The Commons<\/u><\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0by signing up for our newsletters: our daily Philanthropy Today or our monthly Commons<\/em> <em>newsletter. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can \u201cradical empathy\u201d bring us together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>National Book Award-winning author&nbsp;<strong>Colum<\/strong><strong>McCann<\/strong>&nbsp;(<em>Twist<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Let the Great World Spin)<\/em>&nbsp;believes it can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s co-founder of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/emails.philanthropy.com\/e3t\/Ctc\/DQ+113\/d5ks8T04\/MVqZzbmpZF7N4NR8m311hTlW2_PQhc5JzKY3MQqrW23qgz0W7Y8-PT6lZ3mKW4kyKdR2pSMtyVlNGjf3vTctbW8_Gf5k4LQRSkVJMTBR8P1t29VG_Fz47XBDtWW38bJr-7w3k6NW19SmnM1RB254W5G0Rpr2R7vtwN7gQb0XTTCFFW738dw06TJbYYW7gQtL74Xd0rJN8_RgDLKSf9WN7_q0pK1pVm5W6PXXHQ4412ydW97CZT469RPdfW9jXGkD10ByYhW954vM67HMfgnW6FhhF05rNp9QVRw-gY10-Zf1W2K9T2f3_W1l3W6QGMX66pjljdW5n5zCt46w6yfW2k1Lj84Bjq8XW4C9HT11kjk2NW1Zj39G5qppdLW4LFmZy8xkmDXf3Y8b-C04\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Narrative 4<\/strong><\/a>, a program in which young people write and share stories as a means to connect with others and build understanding and compassion. The global nonprofit also encourages young people to translate their newfound empathy into action through civic engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McCann talked about Narrative 4 and storytelling in a Commons in Conversation interview with the&nbsp;<em>Chronicle of Philanthropy<\/em>&#8216;s Drew Lindsay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listen to the conversation on Apple, Spotify,\u00a0or anywhere you get your podcasts. Or watch the discussion on the\u00a0<em>Chronicle of Philanthropy\u2019<\/em>s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vIYURD1wnDM&amp;t=128s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u><strong>YouTube channel<\/strong><\/u><\/a>. Below are some highlights, edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keep up with everything happening in\u00a0The Commons\u00a0by signing up for our newsletters: our daily Philanthropy Today or our monthly Commons newsletter. Can \u201cradical empathy\u201d bring us together? National Book Award-winning author&nbsp;ColumMcCann&nbsp;(Twist,&nbsp;Let the Great World Spin)&nbsp;believes it can. He\u2019s co-founder of&nbsp;Narrative 4, a program in which young people write and share stories as a means to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365392,"featured_media":4402231483641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","cop_editorial_slug":"","cop_asana_id":"","editorial_asana_id":"","editorial_doc_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[81925],"issue":[],"profile":[],"role":[],"series":[191118],"topic":[192233],"coauthors":[190357],"class_list":{"0":"post-4402231483639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-news","8":"series-commons-in-conversation","9":"topic-executive-leadership","11":"has-featured-image"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Novelist Colum\u00a0McCann\u00a0Visits The Commons &#8211; Chronicle of Philanthropy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novelist Colum\u00a0McCann\u00a0Visits The Commons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Keep up with everything happening in\u00a0The Commons\u00a0by signing up for our newsletters: our daily Philanthropy Today or our monthly Commons newsletter. Can \u201cradical empathy\u201d bring us together? National Book Award-winning author&nbsp;ColumMcCann&nbsp;(Twist,&nbsp;Let the Great World Spin)&nbsp;believes it can. He\u2019s co-founder of&nbsp;Narrative 4, a program in which young people write and share stories as a means to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chronicle of Philanthropy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChronicleOfPhilanthropy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T20:21:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-15T20:24:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-Commons-in-Conversation-with-Colum-McCann.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"No Author\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Philanthropy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Philanthropy\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"No Author\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/#\/schema\/person\/092f4a12bd7d799e1cd85bb63719a66e\"},\"headline\":\"Novelist Colum\u00a0McCann\u00a0Visits The Commons\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-15T20:21:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-15T20:24:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/\"},\"wordCount\":154,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-Commons-in-Conversation-with-Colum-McCann.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.philanthropy.com\/news\/novelist-colum-mccann-visits-the-commons\/\",\"name\":\"Novelist Colum\u00a0McCann\u00a0Visits The Commons &#8211; 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