"The stories told in this PEN America collection of diverse and dazzling voices reach from behind prison walls, compelling and indelible. In their plays, poems, essays, stories, and memoirs these incarcerated writers share important truths and show how much talent the U.S. locks away. The men and women who write in prison depict confinement and claim freedom” theirs and ours "one word at a time."

"The finest example I've read in years that radical soulful writing must be done from the inside out. The pieces in this book brilliantly circle carcerality and freedom without ever being bogged down in convenient cliche or sentimentality. In the book's beginning, I asked myself if these United States of America have the moral authority to incarcerate anyone. By book's end, these breathtaking writers answer that question one verse, one sentence, and one paragraph at a time. The beginnings of liberation look and feel like this book."

"'Write what you know' is the oldest and wisest piece of advice for authors. And the contributors to this extraordinary anthology know the world of our prison archipelago, which they describe with passion and wisdom. But they know, and tell us, so much more."

"In a culture of violence, where even language has been used to demean, abuse, and manipulate, this collection shows how language can be used to transform, change, and liberate, too. The writings and experiences found in this book are not merely windows into the lives of those behind bars, they are mirrors glaring back at each of us. They are invaluable in the fight to save the soul of this country. Still, their relevance can only be measured by our willingness to do something about it."

"These writers are unforgettable. They illuminate life in captivity and while they're at it, they expand our literature's very margins. They craft from cells, not endowed chairs. They don't publish for tenure, they write to stay alive in the midst of isolation and regret and in search (and deliverance) of grace and flight and, of course, love. The result, through word and deed, is work that seers with urgency, that aches with heart, that challenges our understanding of literature and justice, and human resilience."

"This essential anthology reminds us that there is a light that cannot be shuttered even in our darkest institutions. The writers of these poems, stories, essays, and plays resist through their very being and in their willingness to see clearly all the harshness around them. Here are brilliant minds at work. Here is work that demands to be read right now. This is a pivotal collection created by artists we must never forget."

"The existence of this work is a triumph. The quality, astonishing. Here's a book that will remind you of art's purpose, voices singing and ascending beyond circumstance or serial number. Every word is an education and a miracle."

"Incarcerated Americans are our most silenced demographic in the country. At best we hear their formal pleas in a courtroom, and occasionally the letters they lob over the electrified walls to loved ones. Otherwise, they're muzzled by the decades of harsh policies and practices that now make up our prison system. The voices in this book provide a window into the pain, humor, humanity, and courage inside our prison system. If you want to understand what 'justice' means in 21st century America, you have to listen to these voices."

"Reading this anthology I'm reminded of my time in a state prison, those days where I looked to writing as a kind of succor, as a way to stay connected to the world. I'm inspired by the level of craft evident in these pages, by the depth and dynamism on display, and also by the miraculous will it must've taken to produce such work. Each piece is testament not only to the immense talent that lives behind the walls but to the power of art to connect one human to another."

"So much respect for language and dancing math reveals in these works a minor omniscience. In a society of living remains, these writers have chosen to cradle, nurture, and protect even the smallest ghosts. I would gladly commend my story to their hands. To incarcerate one person is to incarcerate the world. There is only an earth because there is a pen in their hands."

"There is so much longing and humanity coursing through this collection, and also artistry. The voices in it will stay with me."

"I am so thankful for the writing and visual art in this anthology. The reverence and meditations on making a life under austere, punitive conditions are astounding. In verse and visuals, these writers and artists bring to fore the power of creativity for our very survival. Collectively, these works propel us all forward to imagine a society beyond bars."

"What I love most about this anthology is the range of voices inside of it. The work in this remarkable collection rejects the flat, two-dimensional renderings often imposed upon those incarcerated. No two works are the same. It is expansive, breathtaking, brilliant. This anthology is essential reading both as a collection of literature, and as a reminder that those who are incarcerated have so much to tell us. Now it is up to us to listen."