Prison Poetry Workshop
Sending radio waves through prison walls we reach an audience with content that may change their life. The Prison Poetry Workshop is the only national radio series linking prisoners to the outside world through the power of poetry. As we listen to these poems we realize they hold a deep significance to our understanding of American culture and its tradition of democratic arts.
Episodes
23 episodes
PPW 24: Reginald Dwayne Betts
We sat with Reginald Dwayne Betts and listened as he shared his own story of incarceration and his ongoing process of becoming a writer and poet.
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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12:41
PPW 22: Living in the D.: Shaun Moore-Bey
Shaun Moore-Bey is a poet, activist, and regular on the Detroit spoken-word circuit. He is working to be a cultural force for his community.
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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6:21
PPW 21: Prison Creative Arts Project
The Prison Creative Art Project (PCAP) brings together artist from inside and outside the prison walls of Michigan to create a vibrant arts community. Navigating this process is the team of PCAP facilitators, who have an interesting histo...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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12:29
PPW 20: Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility
Poet Cara Benson leads a powerful writing workshop at the Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility in Saratoga County, New York. We listen in as a group of poets dig deep and create powerful work.
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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21:02
PPW 19: Patrick Mathieu
Patrick Mathieu is a New York city based artist who majored in dance at City College of New York and had a successful career as a performer. Then, one day, there was a knock on his door.Patrick shared his story of incarceration with the...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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9:00
PPW 17: Workshop with Victoria Sammartino
Victoria Sammartino is the Founder and executive director of Voices UnBroken a Bronx-based non-profit organization that facilitates creative writing workshops with young people who are incarcerated/detained or in the foster care system. We aske...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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6:12
PPW 16: Birthing Behind Bars
Angie shares her story about giving birth behind bars in New York.
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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10:45
PPW 15: Etheridge Knight
Etheridge Knight (April 19, 1931 – March 10, 1991) was an African-American poet who made his name in 1968 with his debut volume, Poems from Prison.
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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11:43
PPW 15: Workshop with Norbert Krapf
We asked poet Norbert Krapf to record a workshop for us. Check it out and then put pen to paper!Prison Poetry Workshop has asked poets from across the country to record a special workshop for our listeners. Feel free to play this ...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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4:26
PPW 14: Lead Belly
Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter near Mooringsport, Louisiana around 1889. We explore Lead Belly's life in and out of prison. Take a listen.
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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10:10
PPW 13: Workshop with Buzz Alexander
We asked poet Buzz Alexander of University of Michigan's Prison Creative Art Project to record a poetry workshop for us.Prison Poetry Workshop has asked poets from across the country to record a special workshop for our listeners. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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5:00
PPW 12: Lomax’s and Prison Poetry
Alan Lomax traveled the south visiting prisons and recording songs and interviews. Lomax was a great collector of folk music of the 20th century and invested his work on recording music that was disappearing from the American cultural landscape...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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9:21
PPW 11: Broadside Press
Poet, publisher, editor, and founder of Broadside Press. Dudley Randall was born 14 January 1914 in Washington, D.C., but moved to Detroit in 1920 where he founded the legendary Broadside Press. Broadside helped define the Black Arts movement a...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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13:42
PPW 10: New Orleans
Join the Prison Poetry Workshop as we travel to New Orleans and join a group of prison poets who are taking on Walt Whitman.
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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7:31
PPW 09: Workshop with Dwayne Betts
We asked poet & writer Dwayne Betts to record a workshop for us. Take a listen. Prison Poetry Workshop has asked poets from across the country to record a special workshop for our listeners. Feel free to play this series for incarcerated, o...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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5:43
PPW 08: Randall Horton
We interviewed Randall Horton about his experience with incarceration and the process he underwent in becoming a poet.Randall Horton is the author of The Definition of Place and the Lingua Franca of Ninth Street, both from Main Street R...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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10:27
PPW 07: Free Minds Book Club
Our time with Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop was powerful! D.C. youth who are shipped into the Federal prison system had little contact with home or educational opportunities until Free Minds arrived. We hear their stories and poetry...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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19:19
PPW 06: Judith, Spoon, and Elmo
Judith Tannenbaum taught poetry in prisons across the United States and intensively at San Quentin and other California prisons through Arts-in-Corrections. While working at San Quentin she began a collaboration with Elmo Chatmann and Spo...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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18:08
PPW 05: Patrick Young Story
We met dozens of poets behind bars in our nation's prisons and we sat with formerly incarcerated people like Native New Orleanian, Patrick Young, who picked up pen and put it to paper finding their creative muse. Today, Young is an organizer an...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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5:16
PPW 04: The Poets of San Quentin
We traveled to San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest prison, to learn about the lasting tradition of arts and spoken word in this well know institution.
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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10:26
PPW 03: Workshop with Kyes Stevens
We asked poet Kyes Steven of Auburn University's Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project to record a workshop for us. Take a listen. Prison Poetry Workshop has asked poets from across the country to record a special workshop for ou...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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5:30
