Over the past three years, the National Book Foundation’s Literature for Justice committees have curated thought-provoking reading lists on the topic of mass incarceration. When former committee member and selected author Reginald Dwayne Betts founded the Million Book Project to establish “Freedom Libraries” in prisons and juvenile detention centers nationwide, the Foundation partnered to send Literature for Justice titles to pilot reading groups.

For the program finale, join authors and committee members Susan Burton (Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women, 2019-2020 Reading List) and Rachel Kushner (The Mars Room, 2019-2020 Reading List) in conversation on their work and the larger work of literature inside and outside of prisons to open new worlds of possibility.

Moderated by Reginald Dwayne Betts Betts (Shahid Reads His Own Palm, 2018-2019 Reading List), Million Book Project Founder & Director.

This event will be edited as a bonus episode of the Million Book Project’s podcast, The Freedom Takes, and include reader-submitted questions. Presented in partnership with the Million Book Project.

Books are available for purchase at Bookshop.org with thanks to Loyalty Bookstores in Washington, D.C.

Literature for Justice is made possible by the Art for Justice Fund, a sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, in partnership with the Ford Foundation.