‘Freedom begins with a book’: incarcerated people to judge new US literary award
John J Lennon writes for the Atlantic, the New York Times, the New Yorker and Esquire. He’s also serving a life sentence in prison.
Each day, he wakes up and sits on the stool bolted to his cell floor. Usually, the morning hours are when he gets the most clarity with his work, so he’ll begin on poetry reviews, articles or edits. By the afternoon, Lennon is free to read. Michel Houellebecq and Emmanuel Carrère are some of his favorites.
They’ve joined a mounting pile of authors on the radiator beside his bunk. Others, like Milton, take longer. He doesn’t dislike them; they’re just more painful to navigate. “The themes of Paradise Lost act as a foil,” Lennon said over the phone from Sullivan correctional facility in New York. “Books can be an easier way into having deeper conversations about the man I murdered and why I want mercy.”
This month, Lennon joined hundreds of other incarcerated people in a new initiative intended to inspire dialogue about important books in prisons across the US.
Freedom Reads, the National Book Foundation and the Center for Justice Innovation launched the Inside literary prize, the first major US book award to be judged exclusively by incarcerated people. The winner will be announced in June 2024.
“Through the reading and judging of leading American literary works, the competition will provide a national platform for incarcerated individuals to meaningfully participate in our shared national cultural conversation,” Reginald Dwayne Betts, the Freedom Reads founder and CEO, said in a press release.
“Freedom begins with a book.”
Lennon was involved with the earlier planning stages of the award, and now a jury of 300 people serving sentences across six states will have a say in who wins the prize. They’ll judge the works of four national book award winners and finalists: Tess Gunty, Jamil Jan Kochai, Roger Reeves and Imani Perry.
“The award just tells us, hey, we can add meaning, it shows us that our word can count too,” Lennon said.
“On some level, we need that connection with the things we get from books even more than people do on the outside.”
Over the next few months, 25 judges will be provided copies of the four books, each covering a range of subjects or themes. Freedom Reads will also give every facility’s library an extra set for general circulation, enabling other prisoners and correctional staff to be involved with the initiative.
The four books put forward were chosen by a selection committee, including