Check out John J Lennon chopping it but with Wilbert Rideau: newyorker.com/culture/the-ne…

I'm honored that I got to do this Q/A with Wilbert Rideau, one of the most acclaimed prison journalists, who paved the way for so many of us writing from the inside today. We talked about reading on death row + how he grew to call his warden a friend.

newyorker.com/culture/the-ne…

Background checks are finally being implemented for the 'gun-show loophole' (I actually suggested this more than ten years ago), but it's being done seemingly on unsteady legal grounds. In other words, a court could overturn the rule. So could Trump.

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

Congrats to the other National Magazine Award finalists in the criticism category and to winner Sophie Gilbert! These are the things I think about in my cell, wondering how cool it will be to hang out with writers and editors at these ceremonies. Maybe one day soon.

When I started publishing from Attica more than ten years ago, I don't think I dreamed of this moment, having a real career as a real writer, and seeing others doing the same. And when folks like Haymarket Books and Mellon Foundation grant these meaningful fellowships, it validates the

Today, Haymarket Books and Mellon Foundation are proud to announce the inaugural cohort of the Writing Freedom Fellowship, a program elevate the necessary voices of poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers impacted by carceral systems. haymarketbooks.org/blogs/507-meet…

Another great piece from a LaMarr W Knox, a budding writer with me on the inside. Check it out!

themarshallproject.org/2024/01/19/tyr…

Happy New Year y'all! Reflecting on the books that I read this year: John Keene's Punks; Norman Mailer's Mind of an Outlaw; Vauhini Vara's This is Salvaged; Dannie Martin's Committing Journalism; Rebecca Makkai's I Have Some Questions for You; and Michel Houellebecq's Submission.

I'm grateful the Hochul administration commuted Mike Young's sentence. Last year, I wrote about Young and other old timers in my cellblock. When the governor uses her clemency power, it makes prison a safer environment for everyone, including C.O.s – and it creates that thing we

A great article by Olivia Empson in Guardian Books highlighting the new 'Inside Literary Prize,' a new book award judged by 300 of us in prison. Check it out.

theguardian.com/books/2023/dec…

Meet Ryan Moser. He taught himself to be a journalist in a Florida prison, and now he's out, in Philly, grinding as a freelancer. Guy's got chops, and more of an edge, bc of his experience, than most journalists. He'd be an asset to any outlet.
prisonjournalismproject.org/2023-eoy-a-new…

'Despite the uncertainty & arbitrariness of the parole process he uncovers, Austen still believes in this system, and in second chances' Ben Austen John J. Lennon
Can the Parole Process Make Prison Sentences More Just? nytimes.com/2023/11/06/boo…