Freedom Reads

Freedom Reads' June Newsletter dropped today! 📧 Learn about our latest Freedom Library openings in Louisiana and updates from the last leg of our inaugural #InsideLiteraryPrize tour! Plus, hear directly from Freedom Reads team members David and Mike on the blog, and Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts, Esq. about a recent gift from an Inside Literary Prize judge that is "a profound reminder of why we do this work" ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ey8YhstJ

"I am grateful to say that I work for an organization that values and honors our intersectional identities, and provides a curated collection of literature to cellblocks across the nation that includes a number of authors from the LGBTQ+ community. So that when people pick up a book they feel understood and a little less alone." Freedom Reads Library Coordinator David Perez Jr writes about celebrating #Pride in prison and beyond on the blog ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/e-JjDPEf

"When we come out — those of us that are getting out — we want to do better in life. So we’re doing something in here.” Earlier this Spring, KUSA-TV, 9NEWS's Evan Kruegel spoke to #InsideLiteraryPrize judge Shantel inside La Vista Correctional Facility in Colorado. The Freedom Reads team visited La Vista earlier this year as a part of the three-part Inside Literary Prize tour to facilitate judging and voting on the four books shortlisted for the Prize. Hear from Shantel and Freedom Reads Communications Manager Steven Parkhurst about the power of reading and books on the inside 📚 https://lnkd.in/eYnMD7Vq

"What are those things that happen, that exist at the margins, that help us understand the center of the Black experience?" Earlier this week, Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts, Esq. joined Annika Pergament on Spectrum News NY1's Rush Hour to reflect on Juneteenth 💫 Dwayne discussed writing the introduction to W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.'s recent release, "Crazy as Hell: The Best Little Guide to Black History" by Hoke Glover III and Valerie Sweeney Prince, PhD. And, Dwayne closed out the segment by reading a poem by his son ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eUtaCS3H

Today, we're commemorating Juneteenth with Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise." Angelou's "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" appears in Freedom Libraries in dozens of prisons across the country 📚 #Juneteenth

The Freedom Reads team opened 11 new Freedom Libraries across Rayburn and Raymond Laborde Correctional Centers in Louisiana this week 📚 To date, Freedom Reads has opened 340 Freedom Libraries in 41 adult and youth prisons across 12 states!

This June, we're honoring #PrideMonth with Reginald Shepherd's "You, Therefore" 💫 According to Shepherd himself, "My poetry operates within a literary tradition and a literary language to which I owe my formation as a writer, yet which is not ‘mine’ (as a black gay man raised in Bronx housing projects). I wrestle with this necessary angel and rise renamed, blessed but also lamed." Shepherd's poetry collection, "Fata Morgana: Poems," appears in Freedom Libraries in dozens of prisons across the country. And, in April of this year, University of Pittsburgh Press published "The Selected Shepherd," a collection of Shepherd's poems selected and with an introduction by Jericho Brown. #ReginaldShepherd #Pride2024

"The brothers are loving the books....The one that spoke to me was 'Shibumi' all white cover with a Japanese sword going down the middle of it." - Demetrius, Freedom Library patron at John J. Moran Medium Security Facility In late May, the Freedom Reads team opened our first Freedom Libraries in Rhode Island at John J. Moran Medium Security Facility and Gloria McDonald Women's Facility 📚 To date, Freedom Reads has opened 329 Freedom Libraries across 40 adult and youth prisons in 12 states 💫

"I love the Freedom Reads program because books, very simply, can change people's lives." Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz spoke at the Freedom Reads and CHEFA (Connecticut Health & Educational Facilities Authority) partnership launch event at Freedom Reads headquarters in late April. The event celebrated CHEFA's generous $400,000 Enterprise Capital Grant to Freedom Reads to support our work in Connecticut. Learn more about the partnership ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e3Gz-BbU

At the end of May, the team embarked on the final leg of the #InsideLiteraryPrize tour, visiting four prisons across North Carolina and Missouri 📚 As always, our visits were filled with thought-provoking discussions about the four shortlisted books for the Prize and poetry readings by acclaimed authors 📖 Freedom Reads Founder & CEO Reginald Dwayne Betts, Esq. joined us at Nash Correctional Institution in North Carolina, and poet Seibles Tim joined us at Eastern, Northeast, and Southeast Correctional Centers in Missouri.