Description:

Join Northwestern University School of Professional Studies (SPS), One Book, One Northwestern, and the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) for a virtual lunchtime table talk on the importance of teaching creative and journalistic writing to incarcerated individuals, which enables them to explore their own experiences in powerful and imaginative ways. The talk will feature renowned writers and affiliated faculty of the NPEP program who will touch on their experiences in the classroom.  

* The link to join the event will be sent to you immediately after registration. If you do not receive the link, please email melanie.galvan@northwestern.edu
 
FEATURING: 

Alex Kotlowitz is the author of four books, including his most recent "An American Summer" which received the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize. His first book, the national bestseller "There Are No Children Here," was selected by the NY Public Library as one of the 150 most important books of the twentieth century.  In 2016, Alex worked with inmates at Illinois’ Stateville prison on essays about their cells. The stories which ran on The New Yorker’s website and on The New Yorker’s Radio Hour became the basis for the podcast "Written Inside." NPR’s Lauren Ober, who picked it as one of the top ten podcasts of the year, wrote: “It’s an intimate look at life behind bars that will likely change the way you think about incarceration.” Alex's work, which has been honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times and on This American Life. His honors include an Emmy, two Peabodys and the 2019 Harold Washington Literary Award. He teaches at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. 

Rebecca Gilman is an artistic associate at the Goodman Theatre and Head of Playwriting at Texas Tech University. She is an affiliated faculty member of the Northwestern Prison Education Program. Rebecca’s plays include Luna Gale, Boy Gets Girl, The Glory of Living, Spinning Into Butter and Twilight Bowl. Her plays have been produced Off-Broadway, at regional theatres throughout the U.S., and in London at the Royal Court Theatre and Hampstead Theatre. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, The Harper Lee Award, The Roger L. Stevens Award from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, The Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright, The George Devine Award, and an Illinois Arts Council playwriting fellowship. Gilman was named a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for her play The Glory of Living. In 2016, she was inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.