Matthew Mendoza

Matthew Mendoza has published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, all from prison! His play Freedom Feather was performed by Rehabilitation Through The Arts at the Brooklyn Book Festival as part of “Break Out 2018: Voices From the Inside.” He has won awards from American Short Fiction and PEN America. He juries prison writing for Evening Street Review.


Articles by Matthew Mendoza

Wednesday January 20

What’s Prison Like?

“What? Tell me I’m lying. Fuck. I love sex, drugs, and rock & roll. It just hasn’t worked out for me.”

Monday November 16

Meena in Captivity

Meena learned to paint elephants
roaming the savanna,
learned she couldn’t be one.

Monday August 6

Freedom Feather

“I don’t know if inmate Sanchez turned into a bird or not. It is interesting to imagine, isn’t it, spending your life soaring where the air tastes the way it should.”

More Articles by Matthew Mendoza

Monday August 6

Grace Notes