Thursday, May 19, 7-9: Reading, Discussion and Booksigning w/ Lauren Kessler and Sterling Cunio
Lauren’s new book is Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home (Sourcebooks). It tell six people’s stories of re-entry in society after the society of prison.
Sterling’s is one of 50 writers of The Sentences That Create Us (Haymarket Books). This book is about and for those in prison who want to create a writing life.
(Masks in the building during event, Please)
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About Free: "95 percent of the men and women who go to prison are eventually released. But then what? A gripping work of immersion reporting for readers of Evicted and Maid, Free shines a spotlight on the rollercoaster of re-entry: the exuberance of freedom, the rules and regulations that make you feel like you're still in prison, the often dispiriting work of looking for employment and housing, and more. Veteran reporter Lauren Kessler follows six individuals whose diverse stories paint a portrait of the search for redemption that many former inmates face as they fight to rebuild their lives"
The Sentences That Create Us draws from the unique insights of over fifty justice-involved contributors and their allies to offer inspiration and resources for creating a literary life in prison, including Kessler and Sterling Cunio, one of the six people whose journeys she chronicled in her book, Free. Both were invited to contribute essays to The Sentences That Create Us. They didn't read each other's work, but it turns out they mentioned each other in their essays. Which, really, is not surprising, as they have developed a particularly strong personal and writerly relationship over the past six years.
Joining Lauren for the discussion will be Sterling Cunio, a PEN America Writing for Justice fellow, an Oregon Literary Arts fellow, and a two-time PEN Prison Writing Award winner. Sterling was sentenced to life without parole at age sixteen and spent 27 years in prison before his sentence was commuted by the governor of Oregon last fall. He currently works as The Program Coordinator for the Transformative Justice Initiative at Willamette University where he focuses on creating a paradigm shift in the Oregon criminal legal system.
Description, Review Qotes, “Free…”: Publishers Weekly (01/31/2022):
In this empathetic and visceral account, journalist Kessler (A Grip of Time) documents the achievements and setbacks of six formerly incarcerated people as they attempt to reenter society. Vicki, a recovering heroin and methamphetamine addict, hopes rehab will help her turn her life around. Arnoldo, a former gang member, deescalated prison fights and hopes to utilize these skills in the outside world. Catherine was just 13 and a victim of sexual abuse when she and her brother killed their father's girlfriend. Released at age 30, she struggled to start a new life before becoming a sentencing reform advocate. Dave, a gay man who killed his brother and father in 1985 after they mercilessly bullied him about his sexuality, spends his first days of freedom trying to obtain an ID, insurance, and food stamps. Kessler interweaves profiles of these and other ex-inmates with discussions of new models of thinking about crime and punishment, such as restorative justice, and explains the systemic issues that plague reentry and the psychological toll they take. Her immersion into her subjects' lives allows Kessler to convey to readers the immense challenges of life after prison. This powerful argument in favor of a better support system for those who have served their time rings true. Agent: Heather Jackson, Heather Jackson Literary. (Apr.)
It is nothing short of phenomenal to read these stories of people who move from prison to freedom. Lauren Kessler's immersion journalism gives us a place from which to witness the world we've made, and how people who make mistakes must learn to navigate through it against impossible odds. -- Lidia Yuknavitch, bestselling author of The Book of Joan and The Chronology of Water
Review quotes, The Sentences that Create Us:
"This is one of the best books on writing that I've ever read. I couldn't put it down. There are millions of stories locked behind bars, along with the millions of people our nation has caged. This astonishing book has the power to set those stories free. And I believe the truths contained in those stories just might free us all."
--Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow " The Sentences That Create Us offers an illuminating array of tutorials and testimonials, reckonings and brass tacks. But above all, this volume is an homage to the power of writing to deliver each of us from our individual confines into the soaring infinity of our imaginations."
--Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
