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A Short Play

"They can lock my body up but they can't cage my mind. I'm still free. Just cause you're locked up don't mean you can't be free." More

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Lexie’s Books

"It is the essence of transformation, the protean nature of our imagination and expressions that compel us to write, to rant and rave and strive to be heard." More

Time Reversal Invariance

"It used to be that physicists  / thought the world might run / the same forward as in reverse: / that is to say, we had no means / to know which… More

The Named and the Nameless

In this week's special edition of the Illustrated PEN, we present "The Named and the Nameless," a series of illustrations that accompany winning manuscripts from the 2018 Prison Writing… More

My Penal Vacation

"I caught the elderly lady looking toward the bus stop a few times, probably disappointed at the loss of a customer. Count your blessings lady, I think to myself.… More

The Named and the Nameless

"I had never known Vince very well. He was of my father's generation, and during the sixties and seventies that was reason enough for me to maintain a respectful… More