Bringing EA to the Library
A show with Brooklyn Public Library + 15 new writing pieces
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Hi EA family! One year after Corey Devon Arthur debuted She Told Me Save the Flower, we were excited to bring a version of the written and visual exhibit to the Macon branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. It was a powerful opening reception featuring a keynote from Corey, with support from Freedom Agenda and BPL’s Justice Initiatives. Corey picked 99 books that influenced his life and feminist journey, some of which were brought to the library and put on display (pictured right). It wouldn’t have been possible without librarian Darren Glenn, who was moved by Corey’s show last year and committed to bring the Save the Flower vision to BPL.
The show will be inside the library’s Dionne Mack-Harvin Center through May 1st. On Thursday, April 11th, between 5:30-7:30pm, we are hosting a poetry and letter writing event at the library in partnership with Corey, BPL, Freedom Agenda and Reslashcreation. («This event has been cancelled.) On Thursday, April 25th, Justice Initiates will host its Welcome Home dinner at the library between 6–7:30 pm. On Saturday, April 27th, between 2-4pm, we will join the Prison Library Support Network for a PLSN info session.
Keep reading for stories published in March, ranging from investigative journalism to fiction to op-eds to a major memoir award!
Our Latest Work
Narratively awarded Christopher Blackwell with the 2023 Memoir Grand Prize for his piece about the routine horrors he witnessed during a spell in solitary confinement. His award-winning essay just published and you can read it here! In honor of the accolade, he spoke with the publication about how he became such a successful writer while still incarcerated.
We connected with Texas writer Xandan after he won a grant through the Ridgeway Reporting Project1 to report on conditions of solitary confinement for trans prisoners. That urgent story is now published with The Advocate: “I’ve been in solitary confinement for seven years and counting due to my gender identity, since solitary is standard practice for housing transgender people in Texas prisons.”
Covid is far from over for those living inside prisons, reported Carla J. Simmons for Prism2. “The trauma of the virus, the unraveling system, and the absence of support have culminated into a highly unhealthy environment.”
Tony Vick’s latest piece for Filter Mag3 about a peer recovery unit called Residential Drug Abuse Program demonstrates the great need for prison programs and educational opportunities. “We all had a common situation—we like drugs, and the prison doesn’t want us to have them,” one source told him. “So, how are we going to cope?”
“Many older prisoners here have no source of income nor anyone else to care for them.” Tony Vick for Filter Mag also covered the formation of an eldercare collective as wheelchairs and walkers fill the prison.
While on a hunger strike, Demetrius Buckley wrote about his six days of isolation in the hole in a creative nonfiction piece for Spectre Journal4. “Listen, World, my environment, my hood, my block was made to populate the prison industry.”
Meanwhile, Demetrius Buckley’s fiction essay, Forever Hers, was published with The Rumpus5 after months of painstaking editing and collaboration across prison walls. “Odessa knew this wouldn’t work, but, as a last possible resort, she had to try it…”
For Sojourners6, Aaron Olson wrote about a fellow prisoner who got trapped in an American immigration nightmare. “His story illustrates the waste of human potential by a politics that promotes fear of those struggling in other countries and at home.”
Heat waves, floods, and other climate-related events are making Californian prisons increasingly unlivable, Juan Haines and Steve Brooks reported from San Quentin for the New Republic7. Their story features the Hidden Hazards report released last year from the Ella Baker Center.
For Open Campus Media’s College Inside newsletter8, Phillip Vance Smith wrote about how the seminary was his only option for higher education—even though he’s an atheist—while serving a life sentence in North Carolina.
For his latest International Examiner9 On The Fence Line column, Felix Sitthivong shared about what it's like to receive inadequate medical care while incarcerated. "A person shouldn’t have to choose between food for the week and seeking out medical assistance."
Michael Ray wrote an essay for The Progressive10 about becoming a peer support specialist at his Ohio prison. "Our greatest strength comes from the fact that we ourselves have grappled with mental health and/or substance abuse problems."
Kwaneta Harris penned an essay for Solitary Watch’s Voices From Solitary section11 about how meditation doesn't quite work in solitary confinement when "stillness is my nemesis." “Staying busy means I’m a moving target, harder to hit.”
“The City Council of Spokane, Washington, has proposed that being administered naloxone should be automatic grounds for mandatory treatment,” reported Jonathan Kirkpatrick for Filter Mag.
Jonathan Kirkpatrick also reported for Filter Mag on the irony of HIV rights advancing for cops ahead of the sex workers they criminalize. The news comes in light of a settled federal discrimination lawsuit that barred people living with HIV from serving as police officers.
Inside/Outside Insights
MAJOR CONGRATS: The Appeal has nominated C. Dreams’ 2023 article about being denied transitional housing in Georgia for an award.
HARVARD!: This month Chris Blackwell spoke at the Censorship and Consciousness spring conference hosted by the Bell Collective of Harvard Law School.
YALE!: This month we’ll participate in a Yale Open Studios event and host a teach-in about creative expression in prison featuring O. Smith, Kwaneta Harris and Tomiekia Johnson.
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The Ridgeway Reporting Project is supporting 16 projects by incarcerated writers around the country, overseen by incarcerated journalist and Solitary Watch Editor-in-Chief Juan Moreno Haines. “The goal of the Ridgeway Reporting Project is to give voice to incarcerated people, who are uniquely positioned to show where certain prison policies are failing our society,” according to Juan.
Through in-depth and thought-provoking journalism, Prism reflects the lived experiences of people most impacted by injustice. They pay 50 cents per word.
Filter’s mission is to advocate through journalism for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy, and human rights. They pay $300 per essay.
Spectre Journal is a new Marxist journal that understands anti-oppression struggles as constitutive of class struggle. They’re paying $50 per essay.
The Rumpus is an online literary magazine publishing original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds.
Sojourners is a progressive monthly magazine and daily online publication of the American Christian social justice organization Sojourners, which arose out of the Sojourners Community.
The New Republic is a liberal American publisher focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts, with ten magazines a year and a daily online platform. They pay $300 for essays.
Open Campus Media is a nonprofit news organization covering higher education across the country.
International Examiner is the oldest and largest nonprofit, pan-Asian Pacific American publication in the Northwest. They pay $100 for an opinion piece.
The Progressive covers grassroots progressive politics, civil liberties, human rights, economic justice, a healthy environment, and a reinvigorated democracy. They pay $150 for essays.
Solitary Watch is a premier source of news and information on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails. They pay $250 for their Voices from Solitary section.