Freedom Reads’ Post

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

In June, the Freedom Reads team opened 11 Freedom Libraries across Raymond Laborde and Rayburn Correctional Centers in Louisiana 📚 To date, Freedom Reads has opened 340 Freedom Libraries in 41 adult and youth prisons across 12 states.

"Freedom Libraries were literally changing housing unit spaces nationwide, but most importantly, the culture of the prison as well. Literature was changing lives.” Freedom Reads Library Production Assistant Mike Byrd reflects on his first Freedom Library openings, and the vital role books play on the Inside ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eyMXCsgb

"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