Catherine Wagner: Two Poems
Robins and cardinals blurt between furrows of storm. / A way energy has of being. It can caress itself. More
The Stew of Discontent
Part of the perennial problem with the Texas prison system stems from an inherent comprehension deficit. To use an idea of Alexander Solzhenitsynts, it seems we’ve lost capacity for… More
Illinois Abolishes the Death Penalty
The governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, argued in 2007 that the money could be better spent on providing drug treatment or extra police, which actually prevent crime. Such an… More
Commissary Day
The unthinkable happens: They call for another shot. There are not even ten people in the hyena den to fill a shot. All of us are either stack-holders or… More
A Good Dude
The whites are loosely arranged by hometown and run together as a car, or collective. It’s like a gang, but with no real structure. White power inmates largely call… More
Seven Thousand Yesterdays
Robert Earl was 64 years old, whip thin and frail-looking, though he was still in pretty decent shape. He wasn’t stooped, but he had a weighed-down way of standing… More
Drums That Talk
Here was a messaging system that outpaced the best couriers, the fastest horses on good roads with way stations and relays. Earth-bound, foot-based messaging systems always disappointed. Their armies… More
2011 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing
WinnerGeorge Dohrmann for Play Their Hearts Out (Ballantine Books)The $5,000 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing honors a nonfiction book about sports. Eligible titles should be of a biographical,… More
2011 ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing
Inaugural WinnerRoger Angell2011 is the inaugural year of the PEN/ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing. This award is given to one living American or U.S.-based writer each… More
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