HEAR US: WRITING FROM THE INSIDE DURING THE TIME OF COVID
a collaboration between Exchange For Change and Disorder Press
“HEAR US is an inspirational gathering. Though written from inside prison walls, the poems and writings are universal, human, humane, forgiving, and of the moment.”
“Just as we wouldn’t be aware of certain heinous crimes resulting from police and vigilante murders if there were no recordings of them, we cannot turn away from the voices here, as they document this moment and time, both in their acceptance and their denial of the virus, their theories about its sources, their lightheartedness and seriousness, their outcry and their pain.”
Hear Us: Writing from the Inside During the Time of Covid is a unique anthology of poetry, fiction, nonfiction and artwork. The pieces were submitted from incarcerated writers, family members and staff spanning from Alaska to California, Florida to Illinois, Michigan to Utah and more, and describe how the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd impacted their lives.
In response to the lockdown during Covid-19, and to amplify the voices of the incarcerated during the pandemic, Miami’s Exchange for Change and New Orleans- based Disorder Press have come together to publish this unique anthology from 58 contributors. The work shows, in vivid detail, how inequity and injustice play out in the era of mass incarceration.
“Quarantine is a word that every inmate now knows how to spell…”
Incarcerated people are five times more likely to be infected by Covid-19 than those in the free world. As of June 1, 2021, 406,519 incarcerated people have been infected across U.S. prisons: 2,514 have died. More than 92,000 staff have been infected; 162 have died. Edwin Lugo submitted his piece while incarcerated in a Florida correctional facility; he passed away from Covid-19 just a few years shy of his 10-year sentence.
Contributor Tina Barrett reads at the 2021 NCHEP
With a foreword by award-winning author Edwidge Danticat, this cross-section of writers representing different religions, races, gender orientation and people with disabilities elevates the voices of those too-often silenced behind barbed wire.
Readings
When possible, we asked our incarcerated contributors to read their pieces. We also asked formerly incarcerated people to give voice to those still inside. Find their readings from Hear Us below.