Devan Sandiford is a Caribbean-American writer, community event activist, and award-winning storyteller whose work centers on emotional honesty, family, identity, and the truths we are taught to hide. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Slate Magazine’s Dear Prudence column, and in the anthologies Excitement and Talisman (2023) and Bodies of Stories (2022). Devan has been a writer in residency at the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, a finalist for the Kenyon Review Developmental Editing Fellowship for Emerging Writers, and a recipient of the Corporeal Writing Scholarship for Writing Trauma Toward Healing and Joy. He has performed live stories for audiences of more than 1,600 people and been featured on major platforms, including NPR, The Moth Radio Hour and Podcast, TEDx, and Simple Families Podcast. He has contributed his opinions on race, masculinity, grief, parenting, and the power of storytelling for articles in The New York Times and The Washington Post.

As a six-time New York City Moth StorySLAM Champion and someone who has traveled around the world to develop stories and facilitate story workshops, Devan has found his way into literary, academic, and community spaces. He has performed, been on panels, or led story-centered programs with organizations such as Association of Writers & Writing Programs, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Daughters of the Movement, the CUNY School of Journalism, The Moth, SpeakUp Storytelling, Story Collider, Word Up Bookshop, and multiple national and international storytelling festivals. His work has also supported communities focused on emotional well-being and identity, including The Cute Syndrome Foundation, I’ll Go First, Taking Off the Mask, the Black Students Union at California State University Long Beach, and Veterans in Media & Entertainment. 

Devan is the Interim Deputy Director of Global Brand Experience at the Gates Foundation and lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and two sons.