News & Events
Best-selling Author Jonathan Franzen Visits Book Club at DC Jail
Award-winning author Jonathan Franzen visited the DC Jail last month for a special Book Club session with the Free Minds members as part of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation’s Writers in Schools program. Prepared with a long list of insightful questions for their guest, the young men on the juvenile unit discussed a range of topics with Mr. Franzen…
Read MoreEtan Thomas Leads Series of Writing Workshops
“They brought a tall man to my cell!” one Free Minds member told his mother on the phone, so excited he momentarily forgot the name of his visitor. “We talked about poetry.” Already a prolific writer, the youth has been writing even more extensively since his encounter with 6’10’’ NBA Wizards player Etan Thomas.
Read MoreThe Community Hears Free Minds Poets! Hear Us Out! 2009
Nearly 500 people came to downtown Washington, DC to hear the words of incarcerated youth at the 6th Annual Free Minds Poetry Reading. The 6th & I Historic Synagogue was filled almost to capacity with family members, attorneys, judges, writers, artists, business people, schoolchildren, activists, neighbors, and regular DC residents who came to see what…
Read MoreFree Minds Raises New Friends
Supporters old and new gathered at the elegant Marvin Bar and Bistro in Northwest DC on March 25th, to learn more about the work of Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop. Guests loved the delicious soul food appetizers generously donated by Marvin, but more than anything they enjoyed the chance to meet Free Minds…
Read MoreLocal Author Visits Free Minds Book Club
On Friday, February 27, 2009, guest author DaWayne Williams came to speak to the incarcerated youth of the Free Minds Book Club. The author of Reputations Fade Away, a true chronicle of his young adulthood on the streets of South East DC, Mr. Williams delivered an impassioned address to the young men. As he described…
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