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March 12, 2006

Voices from Inside Releases Poetry Anthology

VOICES FROM INSIDE ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF OUR FIRST ANTHOLOGY


(Northampton, MA- March 11, 2006) Voices from Inside has published its first anthology, Women Writing in Prison, edited by Jacqueline Sheehan. VFI is a group in Western Massachusetts which facilitates writing workshops with incarcerated women, encouraging them to write their stories in their own unique voices. The anthology offers a selection of raw poetry and prose written by ninety-five women prisoners. This new volume reaches out to the larger community, promoting a deeper understanding of the human costs of incarceration.

“I was profoundly struck by the variety of the women’s backgrounds, the courage and humanity of their stories, and the dignity and power of their voices. They need to be heard---and we on the outside need to hear them,” says Ellen Dore Watson, director of the Poetry Center at Smith College.

Billy Collins, New York State Poet Laureate, former U.S. Poet Laureate also applauds Voices From Inside’s first anthology. “If courage is grace under pressure, then these poems are graceful expressions under the real pressures of confinement. Poetry’s acclaimed power to liberate is vividly exemplified in Women Writing in Prison; each poem is at once a private act of escape and confrontation.”

All profits from the sale of Women Writing in Prison support Voices from Inside’s writing groups for incarcerated women.

Books can be purchased for $17.00 each, plus $3.00 for shipping and handling. For information and order forms, contact Carolyn Benson at carbenco@rcn.com.

Posted by lois at March 12, 2006 11:09 AM

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