PEN America Works of Justice

About PEN America Works of Justice

Works of Justice is an online literary series and podcast from PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing that explores the relationship between writing and incarceration, and challenges current conversations about criminal justice in the United States.

Publisher

PEN America Prison and Justice Writing

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 Apr 2022

Latest episode

2 Apr 2024

Latest episodes

19 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Apr 2024

   C. Fausto Cabrera and Zeke Caligiuri on Precarity and Critical Resistance

   In November 2023, Coffee House Press released American Precariat: Parables of Exclusion⁠ (https://coffeehousepress.org/products/american-precariat-parables-of-exclusion), an anthology of essays edited by a collective of incarcerated writers involved in the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. The volume interrogates the complexity and fluidity of class and caste systems in the United States, and includes transcribed conversations of the editors discussing each essay. In the latest Works of Justice podcast, two of the editors, C. Fausto Cabrera and Zeke Caligiuri, talk about how they developed a friendship rooted in writing while incarcerated, what they did to bring writing programs into Minnesota prisons, and the history of how the volume came to be.

2. 

   27 Oct 2023

   Lisa Biggs on Black Women's Healing and Prison Performance Programs

   Theater harnesses the power to both break worlds down, and build worlds of our choosing. As a performer and a former community engagement specialist for a Washington, D.C-based theater, artist and scholar Lisa Biggs has seen this happen several times across many places. As a graduate student, Biggs chose the discipline of ethnography to study the work of nonprofits who provide theater and performance-based programs in women’s prisons in the United States and South Africa. The book produced from that research, The Healing Stage: Black Women, Incarceration, and the Art of Transformation (https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506488165/In-Spite-of-the-Consequences) (Ohio State University Press, 2022), is a thoughtful reflection on how mass incarceration affects Black women and the means by which they process their past and their experience with the criminal justice system. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Malcolm Tariq, senior editorial manager of PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program, speaks with Biggs about her process of working with theater programs in prison, and how these groups cultivate healing spaces for Black women.

3. 

   21 Sept 2023

   Lacino Hamilton on Intentionality and the Language of Justice

   This month marks the three-year anniversary of the exoneration of Lacino Hamilton, who was falsely incarcerated for the murder of his foster mother at the age of 19. Sentenced to at least 50 years in prison, Hamilton spent 26 years maintaining his innocence and was exonerated by DNA evidence in September 2023. While in prison, Hamilton wrote countless letters advocating for his release and published widely on his experience of incarceration and injustice. A collection of those letters has recently been published as In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom (https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506488165/In-Spite-of-the-Consequences) (Broadleaf Books, 2023), and includes Hamilton’s communications with family, friends, professors, journalists, lawyers, and international pen pals he has never met. More than dispelling the realities of life in prison, the book is an offering of Hamilton's profound intellectual engagement with matters of justice and the carceral state. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Prison and Justice Writing Program Assistant Jess Abolafia speaks with Hamilton on his journey as a writer and the intentionality of language in writing about incarceration.

4. 

   18 Aug 2023

   Jennifer Baker on Restorative Justice in Young Adult Fiction

   How far would you go for forgiveness? This is the question stamped on the cover of Forgive Me Not (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/676731/forgive-me-not-by-jennifer-baker/) (Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin, 2023), the debut young adult novel by Jennifer Baker. The novel follows two siblings navigating the growing pains of high school and young adulthood. This comes to a head when Violetta gets drunk and gets behind the wheel of a car, killing her younger sister. As a minor, Violetta is presented with two options: to undergo sentencing and serve time in detention, or participate in The Trials to prove her remorse and willingness to learn from her mistakes. While Violetta is away, her star-athlete brother, Vince, faces his own obstacles with the pressures of school, relationships, and drug use while dealing with the recent family crisis. Individually, the two learn about the expansiveness of accountability and forgiveness. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice (https://pen.org/prison-writing-old/works-of-justice/) podcast, Malcolm Tariq, senior manager of editorial projects, speaks with Baker on restorative justice, her experience researching the criminal justice system, and writing for young adults. Jennifer Baker is a publishing professional of 20 years, the creator/host of the Minorities in Publishing podcast, and a faculty member of the MFA program in Creative Nonfiction at Bay Path University and a writing consultant at Baruch College. Formerly a contributing editor to Electric Literature, she received a 2017 NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship and a Queens Council on the Arts New Work Grant for Nonfiction Literature. Her essay "What We Aren't (or the Ongoing Divide)" was listed as a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2018. In 2019, she was named Publishers Weekly Superstar for her contributions to inclusion and representation in publishing. Jennifer is also the editor of the all PoC-short story anthology Everyday People: The Color of Life (Atria Books, 2018) and the author of the forthcoming YA novel Forgive Me Not (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023). She has volunteered with organizations such as We Need Diverse Books and I, Too Arts Collective, and spoken widely on topics of inclusion, the craft of writing/editing, podcasting, and the inner-workings of the publishing industry. Her fiction, nonfiction, and criticism has appeared in various print and online publications. Her website is: Jennifernbaker.com.

5. 

   30 Jun 2023

   Ethan Heard and Marcus Scott on Adapting Beethoven in the age of Black Lives Matter

   In Beethoven's 1805 opera Fidelio, a man who has been wrongly imprisoned, and his wife must bring him justice. More than two centuries later, Heartbeat Opera breathes new life into the opera by confronting contemporary challenges with anti-Blackness and incarceration in the United States in their 2018 adaptation of the opera. In this reimagining, the main character is a Black Lives Matter activist who has been placed in solitary confinement. The opera follows his wife's attempts to rescue him. But Heartbeat Opera not only raises important questions about the criminal justice system, its creative team brings the reality of it to the stage. Immersed throughout the production are recordings of more than 100 incarcerated singers and 70 volunteers from six prison choirs: Oakdale Community Choir, KUJI Men’s Chorus, UBUNTU Men’s Chorus, HOPE Thru Harmony Women’s Choir, East Hill Singers, and Voices of Hope. In February 2022, Heartbeat Opera's Fidelio was remounted and recorded at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THODe3j8mKc&utm_source=Communications&utm_campaign=6506586d2f-PJWP_06_30_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c67d07604c-6506586d2f-&mc_cid=6506586d2f&mc_eid=UNIQID). In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Sierra Santiago, PEN America Prison and Justice Writing intern, speaks with director/adaptor Ethan Heard and co-book writer Marcus Scott about the evolution of developing Fidelio for the stage, and the process of incorporating incarcerated musicians in the production.

6. 

   30 May 2023

   Damascus James on Witnessing, Letter Writing, and Solitary Confinement

   In January 2023, people incarcerated throughout the state of Texas organized a collective hunger strike to demand better living conditions. A couple years prior, Canada native Damascus James had relocated to Texas from New York City, and began to write letters to incarcerated people in the state in order to develop connections with isolated communities. From his initial correspondence with one writer, James got connected with several people, including many who had been placed in solitary confinement for years. The letters he received multiplied as word spread within the prison systems, with people reaching out to share their experiences with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and other personal stories. From these letters, James developed TEXAS LETTERS (https://www.texasletters.org/), an anthology series of letters penned by individuals in Texas living in solitary confinement. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Malcolm Tariq, senior manager of editorial projects, speaks with James about his inspiration to start the project, his process of compiling the first volume of the series, and what he has learned from developing friendships with one of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.

7. 

   21 Apr 2023

   Tommy Trantino on Perseverance and Protest

   Ask Tommy Trantino to describe himself, and he may simply respond, “endless.” Ask him the same question on another day, and the answer will be different. For Trantino, it’s complicated. Officially, he writes, draws, and paints. But he also loves to make people laugh, and his mission is to do as much good as possible. Incarcerated for nearly 40 years in New Jersey, the New York City native was placed on death row in 1963 before his sentence was commuted to life once the death penalty became illegal in the early 1970s. During those years in Trenton State Prison’s Death House, Trantino was inspired to start painting, and eventually found his way to writing. Among several attempts to get him released, his supporters collected some of his work for a book, published by Knopf in 1974 as Lock the Lock. Long out of print, Lock the Lock is a constellation of Trantino’s artistry, but it is also an introduction for how he experienced the world on death row. Nearly half a century later, the same rings true. Trantino’s zest for life and goodwill guides his creative process much in the same way that his defiance and activism led him to survive incarceration. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Jess Abolafia, program assistant, and Malcolm Tariq, senior manager of editorial projects—both of PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program—speak with Trantino about his time organizing inside prison, how he started making art, and the production of Lock the Lock. In her accompanying introduction to the podcast (https://pen.org/tommy-trantino-perseverance-protest/), Abolafia gives more context on Trantino’s background and describes how their first meeting led to an ongoing creative partnership.

8. 

   16 Mar 2023

   Tracy D. Schlapp and Danny J. Wilson on Cultivating Writing Communities Inside Oregon Prisons

   A few years ago, Tracy D. Schlapp and Danny J. Wilson were inspired by Johnny Cash’s album, At Folsom Prison (1968), to stage concerts of Cash's music in prisons around Oregon. Schlapp and Wilson's performances blossomed into Bridgeworks Oregon, a Portland-based nonprofit with the mission of using art, music and cultural awareness to bridge societal divisions throughout the state. In May 2019, the organization assembled a storytelling group, Ground Beneath Us, at Oregon State Penitentiary. The group of men wrote about life inside by responding to questions posed by local middle and high school students. The work from those writing sessions grew into the recently released anthology, Prisons Have a Long Memory: Life Inside Oregon’s Oldest Prison (https://www.bridgeworksoregon.org/new-page-1), featuring poetry, essays, and memoir. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Moira Marquis, senior manager of the Freewrite Project for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program, asks Schlapp and Wilson about the history of Bridgeworks Oregon, their experiences learning how to advocate for incarcerated people, and their process for working between the walls for the anthology. In her accompanying review of the book (https://pen.org/bridgeworks-oregon-prisons-long-memory/), Marquis reflects on the intensity of the collected pieces, and the importance of providing reflective spaces that acknowledge and engage the emotional tolls of life for people who are denied so many rights in the carceral system in the United States.

9. 

   16 Feb 2023

   Damien M. Sojoyner on Ethnography and Histories of Resistance in Los Angeles

   For over 50 years, the Southern California Library has made history a practice. Housing an extensive collection of histories of community resistance in Los Angeles and beyond, the library also serves as a community organization. Though he grew up not too far from the library, anthropologist Damien M. Sojoyner only learned it existed as an adult. When asked to help develop programs and teach a summer course for youth in the area, Sojoyner met Marley, a high school student whose vocal opinions caught the ethnographer’s attention. Through Marley, Sojoyner learned and observed how Marley and the young people in the area were caring for their community, resisting policing and patrolling of their neighborhood, and confronting the injustices of the criminal justice system. Sojoyner’s recent book, Joy and Pain: A Story of Black Life and Liberation in Five Albums (https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/hugh-ryan/the-womens-house-of-detention/9781645036647/) (University of California Press, 2022), documents Damien’s conversations with Marley across five “albums” centered on housing, education, health care, social services, and juvenile detention. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Malcolm Tariq, senior manager of editorial projects for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing, asks Sojoyner about his approach to ethnography, the ethics of constructing someone else’s narratives, and the history of resistance in gang culture.

10. 

    19 Jan 2023

    Hugh Ryan on Carceral Archives and Queer History

    The New York Women's House of Detention was a fixture of Greenwich Village from 1932 to 1974. For public historian Hugh Ryan, its position as a cultural center is proof that jails and prisons were not always peripheral to the development of communities in the United States. In fact, they were sometimes considered in the urban planning of cities and neighborhoods. Ryan discovered the Women's House of Detention (also known as The House of D) on a walking tour, where he also learned of its unfamiliar history as a queer landmark. His curiosity unearthed a plethora of evidence verifying this claim, largely drawn from social worker documentation of the queer experiences of justice-involved youth and working-class people throughout the twentieth century. In his recent book, The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison (https://www.boldtypebooks.com/titles/hugh-ryan/the-womens-house-of-detention/9781645036647/) (Bold Type Books, 2022), Ryan asserts: "The House of D helped make Greenwich Village queer, and the Village, in return, helped define queerness for America. No other prison has played such a significant role in our history, particularly for working-class women and transmasculine people." Ryan also demonstrates how people housed at the institution, such as notable activists Angela Davis and Afeni Shakur, informed each other about the intersections of Black and queer liberation movements. In this episode, Malcolm Tariq, senior manager of editorial projects for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing, asks Ryan about being a student of abolition, the ethics of constructing narratives from archives, and how people in the House of Detention participated in the resistance efforts at nearby Stonewall in 1969. Hugh Ryan is a writer and curator, and most recently, the author of The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison, which New York Magazine called one of the best books of 2022. His first book, When Brooklyn Was Queer, won a 2020 New York City Book Award, was a New York Times Editors' Choice in 2019, and was a finalist for the Randy Shilts and Lambda Literary Awards. He was honored with the 2020 Allan Berube Prize from the American Historical Association. Since 2019, he has worked with the NYC Dept. of Education to develop LGBTQ+ inclusive educational materials and trainings. Malcolm Tariq is a poet and playwright from Savannah, Georgia. He is the author of Heed the Hollow (Graywolf, 2020), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the 2020 Georgia Author of the Year Award in Poetry, and Extended Play (Gertrude Press, 2017). He was a 2016-2017 playwriting apprentice at Horizon Theatre Company and a 2020-2021 resident playwright with Liberation Theatre Company. A graduate of Emory University, Malcolm holds a PhD in English from the University of Michigan. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he is the senior manager of editorial projects for Prison and Justice Writing at PEN America.

11. 

    17 Nov 2022

    Celes Tisdale on Remembering the Attica Prison Uprising Through Poetry

    In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Malcolm Tariq, senior manager of editorial projects for PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing, speaks with Celes Tisdale about the recent reissue of his anthology, When the Smoke Cleared: Attica Prison Poems and Journal (Duke University Press, 2022), originally published as Betcha' Ain't: Attica Poems (Broadside Press, 1974). Tisdale talks about his approach to teaching poetry, the process of editing the volume, and the importance of remembering the 1971 uprising through poems. He 1also shares gems of his life as a stage actor and television host, including a heartwarming story on meeting Muhammad Ali.

12. 

    20 Oct 2022

    Prince Shakur on Masculinity, Queerness, and Histories of Incarceration

    With When They Tell You To Be Good (https://tinhouse.com/book/when-they-tell-you-to-be-good/) (Tin House, 2022), Prince Shakur delivers a political coming of age memoir on growing up as a queer child in a Jamaican family, and his development as a radical organizer, traveler, and writer. As he spends pivotal years in his twenties traveling and participating in movements such as Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock, Shakur carries the experiences of growing up with a father murdered early in his life, and an incarcerated stepfather. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, Nicole Shawan Junior, deputy director of PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing, speaks with Shakur about the process of writing and editing his book, outlaw masculinity, and how incarceration interrupts family dynamics.

13. 

    16 Sept 2022

    Andy West on Teaching Philosophy in Prisons

    In The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Philosophy (https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/andy-west/the-life-inside/9781529032017) (Picador, 2022), Andy West writes about his experiences teaching philosophy in prisons in the United Kingdom. A touching memoir of hope and healing, The Life Inside chronicles how West asks his students challenging questions about life that also get him to reconsider the deep-seeded traumas and guilt he's been carrying for years. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, PEN America Postgraduate Fellow Sophia Ramirez talks with West about incarceration in the UK, what led him to write the book, and his approach to writing about and for people who are incarcerated.

14. 

    17 Aug 2022

    Keeda J. Haynes on Second-Chance Culture and Standing in Her Truth

    In Bending the Arc: My Journey from Prison to Politics (https://www.sealpress.com/titles/keeda-j-haynes/bending-the-arc/9781541646292/?utm_source=Communications&utm_campaign=583182ef7c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_WOJ_05_26_2022_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c67d07604c-583182ef7c-&mc_cid=583182ef7c&mc_eid=UNIQID) (Seal Books, 2021), Keeda J. Haynes pulls back the veil on what happens in the criminal legal system. In a series of events, Haynes went from working as a correctional officer in a local jail to serving time in federal prison for a crime she did not commit. Having later completed law school and served as a public defender, Haynes has the unique perspective of experiencing the system from several personal viewpoints, including that of running for Congress. In the latest episode of PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast, PEN America Postgraduate Fellow Emma Stammen talks with Haynes about what inspired her to share this compelling story, working in the legal system after her incarceration, and the experience of revisiting her time in prison 18 years later.

15. 

    21 Jul 2022

    Marlon Peterson on Harm, Healing, and Breaking Free

    Marlon Peterson’s Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song (Bold Type Books, 2021) is a poignant look at what it means to transform one’s life by taking accountability. Tracing Peterson’s life from his childhood in Brooklyn to his journey to becoming a writer after 10 years of incarceration, the memoir grapples with the devastating impacts of interpersonal and systemic violence. At its core, the book is one of vulnerability, love, and hope. PEN America Postgraduate Fellow Emma Stammen talks with Peterson about what inspired him to write, and how his understanding of abolition transcends the physical prison space.

16. 

    16 Jun 2022

    Dorothy E. Roberts on Ending the Child Welfare System to Build Safer Futures

    PEN America Prison and Justice Writing Postgraduate Fellow Sophia Ramirez interviews legal scholar, sociologist, and social justice advocate Dorothy E. Roberts about her new book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families—and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World, which peels back the benevolent façade of the child welfare system, revealing the cruel and oppressive structures within. Roberts calls for the abolition of the system, advocating for community-based responses. Ramirez and Roberts discuss the child welfare system’s racist origins, carceral logic, and the destruction it deals to Black families and minority communities.

17. 

    26 May 2022

    Mahogany L. Browne on Collectivism, Bearing Witness, and Unhanding the Ego

    PEN American Prison and Justice Writing Director Caits Meissner talks with Lincoln Center Poet-In-Residence Mahogany L. Browne about Browne’s new Choreopoem, "Quilted Steele," premiering at Lincoln Center on June 13, 2022. The two discuss Browne's process for writing the choreopoem, collaboration, and caring for oneself and community while confronting and witnessing injustice.

18. 

    21 Apr 2022

    Derecka Purnell on the Necessary Unlearning of Policing

    PEN America Prison and Justice Writing Postgraduate Fellow Sophia Ramirez speaks with Derecka Purnell about her latest book, Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom. In this episode, Purnell discusses the meaning of abolition, the problem with social media activism, and what keeps us hopeful when pushing for change.

19. 

    15 Apr 2022

    David Sanchez on Addiction, Subjectivity, and Selfhood

    PEN America Postgraduate Fellow Emma Stammen talks with 2018-2019 Writing for Justice Fellow David Sanchez about his debut novel All Day is a Long Time—a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story encompassing addiction, mental illness, homelessness, incarceration, and sobriety.

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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.