Jacob Swenson-Lengyel is a writer and social movement strategist. After his son Jules died in 2021, he wrote a collection of letters about his experience, which can be found below. His essays, commentary, and op-eds have appeared in The Point Magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, Teen Vogue, In These Times, and elsewhere. He is a member of the Convergence Magazine editorial board. He is an alumnus of the Granta Memoir Writing Workshop and did five years of graduate study in philosophy at the University of Chicago.
For the last decade, Jacob has worked with social justice organizations and coalitions at the intersection of big ideas and collective action. He has worked for Narrative Initiative, Pennsylvania Stands Up, People’s Action, and Interfaith Worker Justice, and helped create the People’s Lobby in Chicago. He currently heads Good Sense Strategies and partners with organizations seeking to make justice, democracy and freedom common sense.