Moira Marquis

Senior Manager, The Freewrite Project

Moira Marquis is the Freewrite project senior manager in the prison and justice writing department at PEN America. Marquis has many years of experience teaching writing in both secondary and higher education, as well as leading Asheville Prison Books, and founding Saxapahaw Prison Books. She has a PhD in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Censoring Imagination: Why Prisons Ban Fantasy and Science Fiction | Moira Marquis on the Importance of Magical Thinking For the Incarcerated
LitHub, December 7, 2023


Articles by Moira Marquis

Prison and Justice Writing
Wednesday April 19

The Legacy of Martin Sostre (1923-2015)

Moira Marquis pays homage to Martin Sostre, a self-taught jailhouse lawyer who won several lawsuits against censorship to secure the rights of incarcerated people.

Prison and Justice Writing
Wednesday April 19

An Interview with Chicago Books to Women in Prison

PEN America’s Moira Marquis interviews Chicago Books to Women in Prison to learn more about why they choose to work exclusively with women’s prisons.

Prison and Justice Writing
Thursday March 16

On Bridgeworks Oregon’s “Prisons Have a Long Memory: Life Inside Oregon’s Oldest Prison”

Moira Marquis reviews Tracy D. Schlapp and Danny Wilson’s “Prisons Have a Long Memory: Life Inside Oregon’s Oldest Prison” (Bridgeworks Oregon, 2022).