Asheville Forum: Daneen Akers
The Asheville Adventist Forum presents: Daneen Akers
December 14, 2019 at 2:30 p.m.
We are excited to be able present Daneen Akers as the speaker at our December meeting. It was the visit of Daneen and her husband, Steve Eyer, to Asheville in 2016 to show one of their films that led to the formation of our Forum chapter.
Daneen Akers is a writer, documentary filmmaker, teacher, and mother who believes deeply in the power of stories. Her latest project is Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints, an illustrated middle grade children’s storybook featuring original portraits and profiles of people of faith who worked for love and justice in their corner of the world, even if that rocked the religious boat.
Daneen was a part-time resident in the San Francisco Film Society's inaugural FilmHouse program and received the Pacific Pioneer Emerging Filmmaker Grant. She co-produced and directed several documentary films that focused on identity, faith, and belonging, including Seventh-Gay Adventists, Enough Room at the Table, and the Outspoken short doc series. She's a former English teacher with a graduate degree from San Francisco State University.
She grew up with Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, Your Story Hour, and other books from Adventist publishing houses, and while many hold fond memories, she found she couldn’t read them to her own two daughters. She knew she needed better stories for her own children, stories that help us transcend fears, connect with each other, engage in justice, and model an expansive and fully inclusive view of God. As a storyteller, the clearest place for her to start was to tell stories about people of faith who have been motivated by a vision of a loving, just, and compassionate Divine, people whose faith works for the common good of us all.
For the December 14th Asheville Adventist Forum meeting, Daneen will be discussing the concept of holy troublemaking and sharing a selection of stories from Holy Troublemakers & Unconventional Saints (which will be released on Dec. 10th) including those with Adventist connections.
The meeting will be held in Dr. Dennis Campbell’s dental waiting room at 172 Asheland Avenue near downtown Asheville. It begins at 2:30 p.m. on December 14. For further information contact Connie Hayward, 828-693-1105 (h), 828-388-1575 (c), conniehayward@gmail.com
