First major book prize with a jury made up of prisoners

July 16, 2024

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library, commonly known as the 42nd Street Library, where the inaugural Inside Literary Prize will be awarded on August 1. This groundbreaking event is the first major U.S. book prize to have exclusively incarcerated individuals as judges. Wikimedia photo by ajay_suresh

On August 1, the Inside Literary Prize will be awarded for the first time in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of the New York Public Library. It will be the first major U.S. book award to be judged exclusively by incarcerated people.

The private event will be moderated by Reginald Dwayne Betts, founder and CEO of Freedom Reads.

The award was launched in December 2023 by Freedom Reads, the National Book Foundation, and the Center for Justice Innovation. The initiative aims to expand access to literature for incarcerated people and is supported by literary podcaster and co-owner of Interabang Books, Lori Feathers.

More than 200 incarcerated people from 12 prisons in six states served as judges. The shortlisted titles are The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai, South to America by Imani Perry, and Best Barbarian by Roger Reeves. These titles were selected from the 2022 National Book Awards finalists by a committee of incarcerated readers and librarians.

The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday, August 1, 2024, at the New York Public Library in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.