Works of Justice 008 - Best of Breakout

PEN America

This September, in commemoration of the Attica Riots, PEN America and The Poetry Project launch BREAK OUT: a movement to (re)integrate incarcerated writers into literary community. Throughout the month, over two dozen local reading series in New York City—and across the country—will feature the work of a currently incarcerated writer. This first-of-its-kind event series will culminate in a celebration of the 2019 PEN America Prison Writing Awards, September 18th at the Brooklyn Book Festival. Here, we share just a few of the most dynamic readings from past Breakout events: Junot Diaz reads an excerpt of 'Walla Walla IMU' by Arthur Longworth Rebecca Carroll of WNYC reads Catherine LaFleur's "Gardener's Memory" Joshua Bennett reads 'The Storm' by Edward Ji John Wray reads 'The Centaur's Son' by Burl Corbett (a Pushcart Prize nominee) Randall Horton reading 'No Moon' by Spoon Jackson Toure reads 'Beauty' by Julian Concepcion 'how to survive in prison a brief history of my first 23 years in prison' by Yvette M. Louiselle Khalil Cumberbatch reads 'When the Bombs Go Off' by Ezekiel Caligiuri Mitchell Jackson reads “Letter to My Grandnephew” by Christopher Meyers --Special thanks to the many media partners and readers who have partnered with PEN to share incarcerated writers' works with the wider literary world. https://pen.org/breakout-a-movement Audio Credit: Intro by Mark Gallagher Music by Orquesta Arrecife