Prison Poetry Workshop Podcasts

Series produced by Narrative Arts

Caption: Prison Poetry Workshop
Prison Poetry Workshop 

Sit in any prison classroom or recreation room and ask: How many writers are in the room? How many people are writing rhymes or poems? Carefully-folded pieces of paper come out of pockets – words written in tightly stylized hand-writing. As we listen to these poems we realize they hold a deep significance to our understanding of American culture and its tradition of democratic arts.

Prison Poetry Workshop is a public radio show, hosted by Rend Smith, that travels across the country exploring the history and stories connected to the prison poetry literary form.


23 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Prison Poetry Workshop
We sat with Reginald Dwayne Betts and listened as he shared his own story of incarceration and his ongoing process of becoming a writer and poet.

Bought by WRGY and KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 12:41
  • Purchases: 2
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Shaun Moore-Bey is a poet, activist, and regular on the Detroit spoken-word circuit. He is working to be a cultural force for his community.

Bought by WRGY and KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 06:21
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Prison Creative Arts Project
The Prison Creative Art Project (PCAP) brings together artist from inside and outside the prison walls of Michigan to create a vibrant arts communi...

Bought by WRGY and KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 12:30
  • Purchases: 2
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Poet Cara Benson leads a powerful writing workshop at the Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility in Saratoga County, New York. We listen in as a group ...

Bought by WRGY and KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 21:03
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Patrick Mathieu
Patrick Mathieu is a New York city based artist who majored in dance at City College of New York and had a successful career as a performer. Then, ...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 09:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Etheridge Knight
Etheridge Knight (April 19, 1931 – March 10, 1991) was an African-American poet who made his name in 1968 with his debut volume, Poems from Prison.

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 11:43
  • Purchases: 1
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Victoria Sammartino is the Founder and executive director of Voices UnBroken a Bronx-based non-profit organization that facilitates creative writin...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 06:12
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Prison Poetry Workshop
Angie shares her story about giving birth behind bars in New York.

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 10:46
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
We asked poet Norbert Krapf to record a workshop for us. Check it out and then put pen to paper! Prison Poetry Workshop has asked poets from acros...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 11, 2014
  • Length: 04:26
  • Purchases: 1
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Lead Belly was born Huddie William Ledbetter near Mooringsport, Louisiana around 1889. We explore Lead Belly's life in and out of prison. Take a li...

Bought by WVIA, PRX Remix, WDNA, and KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 10:10
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Broadside Press
Poet, publisher, editor, and founder of Broadside Press. Dudley Randall was born 14 January 1914 in Washington, D.C., but moved to Detroit in 1920 ...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 13:42
  • Purchases: 1
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We asked poet Buzz Alexander of University of Michigan's Prison Creative Art Project to record a poetry workshop for us. Prison Poetry Workshop ha...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 05:00
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Alan Lomax traveled the south visiting prisons and recording songs and interviews. Lomax was a great collector of folk music of the 20th century an...

Bought by KUER, PRX Remix, and KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 09:21
  • Purchases: 3
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Join the Prison Poetry Workshop as we travel to New Orleans and join a group of prison poets who are taking on Walt Whitman.

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 07:31
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Dwayne Betts
We asked poet & writer Dwayne Betts to record a workshop for us. Take a listen. Prison Poetry Workshop has asked poets from across the country to r...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 05:43
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Randall Horton
We interviewed Randall Horton about his experience with incarceration and the process he underwent in becoming a poet. Randall Horton is the autho...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 10:27
  • Purchases: 1
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Our time with Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop was powerful! D.C. youth who are shipped into the Federal prison system had little contact ...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 19:20
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Prison Poetry Workshop
Judith Tannenbaum taught poetry in prisons across the United States and intensively at San Quentin and other California prisons through Arts-in-Cor...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 18:09
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
We met dozens of poets behind bars in our nation's prisons and we sat with formerly incarcerated people like Native New Orleanian, Patrick Young, w...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 05:16
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: San Quentin
We traveled to San Quentin State Prison, California’s oldest prison, to learn about the lasting tradition of arts and spoken word in this well know...

Bought by KFOK-LPFM


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 10:26
  • Purchases: 1