Cody Reno is a self-taught writer from Hutchinson, Kansas, now serving a 24-year sentence for drug offenses. Rather than let the time consume him, he has committed himself to honing a writing craft while incarcerated. Receiving an Honorable Mention in Fiction in the 2024 PEN Prison Writing Awards for his fiction, “Drunken Goatman” is his first recognizable achievement, but he doesn’t want it to be his last. This award from PEN America has given him the confidence that all his days spent with pen and paper, striving to become a published author, have not been in vain. He hopes that one day his kids and family can look back and see his time away as a triumph over tragedy.