Ep 151: Zeke Caligiuri and Pip chat about a section from The Hours by Michael Cunningham

On June 10, my book Audition came out in the United States with Coffee House Press and Canada with Strange Light

To celebrate this, and with massive support from Laura Graveline at Coffee House Press, I've recorded three special episodes of Better off Read which feature three of my favourite writers published by Coffee House Press.

In this first special episode I get to talk to Zeke Caligiuri. Zeke is a writer and activist from South Minneapolis. He is the author of This is Where I Am, published by University of Minnesota Press, a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. Caligiuri has won multiple awards through the PEN Prison Writing Contest and is the cofounder of the Stillwater Writers Collective, the first all-prisoner created and facilitated collective in the country.

I was really excited to talk with Zeke. The book Zeke co-edited American Precariat: Parables of Exclusion is one of my favourite books of the year. It's an incredible selection of writing about the precariat classes. I'd recommend it to everyone.

Zeke offered as a beginning point for our conversation an amazing passage from The Hours by Michael Cunningham.

One of the best ways to keep up with Zeke's events and writing is by following them on Instagram

The next podcast will be out this time next week.

Action: People Against Prisons Aotearoa

People Against Prisons Aotearoa (PAPA) believes that everyone has the ability to change. No one is born a criminal. When someone has hurt others, that does not mean they are destined to keep hurting others for the rest of their lives. If people are treated with dignity and respect, and given the resources they need to survive and thrive, we can live in a less violent and more peaceful society.

If issues of justice and incarceration interest you PAPA are organising all sorts of activism and education at the moment and one of the best places to stay in touch and get involved is by following PAPA on there social media channels:

PAPA on Facebook

PAPA on Instagram

 

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Music in Better off Read was made by Brent McIntyre.