My Name is Meth
Drugs, drug-themed poetry, and more drugs in the American Prison Newspapers collection.
Lesya Ukrainka: Ukraine’s Beloved Writer and Activist
“Lesya Ukrainka” was a carefully considered pseudonym for a writer who left behind a legacy of poems, plays, essays and activism for the Ukrainian language.
Good, Evil, and Attorneys
A quick look at poetry from a 1972 newspaper published in the Arkansas Cummins Unit prison.
Circumnavigating Censorship through Poetry and Pictures
Prison censorship comes in many forms; its subversion comes in even more.
Chronemics and the Nonverbal Language of Time
Through the lens of chronemics, we can examine why time appears to have a different essence at, well, different times.
In Memoriam of the Convict Scholar
An 1899 issue of The Monthly Record reports the death of an acclaimed Shakespearian "convict scholar," who served over 20 years on a life sentence.
Featured Poem from the APN Collection: Lonely Nights
A jarring dose of humanity comes with the 1979 poem by Reva Walker at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women.
From Didion to Hesiod: The Center Will Not Hold
Hesiod's poem reminds us that in the end, we must all make sense of our works and days, with the help of—or in spite of—the stories in our heads.
Comparing Editions of David Walker’s Abolitionist Appeal
Digitization allows researchers to trace editorial and authorial changes in archival content. Both are central to the study of this famous abolitionist pamphlet.
Banning The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 California
The Kern County, CA Board of Supervisors got a lesson in the Streisand Effect back in 1939, when they banned The Grapes of Wrath from their libraries and schools.