Exposure: on writing in prison

What risks do incarcerated writers face when their words travel beyond prison walls? And how do audiences of their work read, honor, and bear witness without assuming voyeuristic or exploitative perspectives? The PEN America Prison Writing Program commissioned currently incarcerated writers to reflect on these and other tensions between the realm of public readership and the often hidden creative life in prison. Dynamic authors, poets, activists, and actors Mahogany L. Browne, Aja Monet, Jon Sands, Christopher Soto, Kirya Traber and Jecoina Vinson bring the writers’ messages to life on the stage.

Featuring original work by: Brian Batchelor, Peter Dunne, Greg Goodman, Lacino Hamilton, Elizabeth Hawes, Matthew Feeney, Benjamin Frandsen, Arthur Longworth, Justin Rovillos Monson, Santonio Murff and Joe Vanderford

View album on Flickr

View the event program (contains excerpts of work read)

The Prison Writing Contest Prizes are sponsored by the generous support of the Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice. Programming for PEN America’s Prison Writing Program is made possible in part by generous funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

More information at worldvoices.pen.org