When You Hear Me (You Hear Us): Voices on Youth Incarceration (Shout Mouse Press Young Adult Books)

Product Description

This anthology of poetry and personal stories centers the voices of those directly impacted by the incarceration of young people in the United States. Compiled by Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, this rich collection includes over 100 firsthand accounts from both the young people charged and incarcerated in the adult criminal legal system and from the community at large: the mothers, the loved ones, the correctional staff, public defenders, prosecutors, and others harmed and left with unhealed trauma. These critical voices, uniquely combined, illustrate the ecosystem that surrounds youth who are incarcerated–and expose the ripple effects that touch us all. This book challenges us to hear these voices calling out for accountability, transformative justice, and healing. Together, they demonstrate the collective impact of the prison system, and our collective responsibility to create a society where every one of us can thrive.
Shout Mouse Press is dedicated to centering and amplifying the voices of marginalized youth (ages 12+) via writing workshops, publication, and public speaking opportunities. In collaboration with community-based partners, we have produced 45 books by 350+ youth.Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop uses the literary arts, workforce development, and violence prevention to connect incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults to their voices, their purpose, and the wider community. Since its inception, Free Minds has reached over 1,500 youths and adults with long-term, continuous support.

Review

PRAISE for FREE MINDS WRITERS

They Called Me 299-359: Poetry by the Incarcerated Youth of Free Minds

✭ “The extraordinary writing in this collection is an invaluable gateway into the minds, lives, and hearts of incarcerated young people. Their stories are full of anguish, love, yearning, and hope. Reading them forces us to confront what this country has done in our name, and how profoundly it has failed some of its youngest and most vulnerable children. Read these poems. Sit with them. Remember the names, the stories, the humanity. Don’t look away.”
– Clint Smith, staff writer at The Atlantic and bestselling author of How The Word is Passed

✭ “The young men whose work is featured in this anthology come from some of Washington, DC’s most impoverished, violent, and crime-ridden neighborhoods. What they have endured, most of us cannot even fathom. Theirs are the forgotten voices – the ones some of us would like to lock away and silence. But to do so would be a grave mistake. The words within They Called Me 299-359 are beautiful, at times eloquent, and often painful. If we ever hope to elevate our society, it is critical that we stop to listen!”
– Etan Thomas, author, poet, and former NBA player

The Untold Story of the Real Me: Young Voices from Prison

✭ “The literary collection you hold in your hands is a testament to the vitality and spirit of the young poets whose work is presented in these pages, proof in print that books and reading can change and save lives… The pieces showcased here are moving and real.”
– George Pelecanos, novelist, writer / producer of The Wire

✭ “These pages–they are vibrant with urgency. Tragedy and pain and loss and that one thing that distinguishes them from so many others: hope. Each one of these chapters is a journey into the birthplace of the grit and gristle, the tenacity and hunger for life that makes the Free Minds Book Club meaningful.”
– Reginald Dwayne Betts, formerly incarcerated youth, award-winning author of Felon

About the Author

Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop uses the literary arts, workforce development, and violence prevention to connect incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youths and adults to their voices, their purpose, and the wider community. Since its inception, Free Minds has reached over 1,500 youths and adults with long-term, continuous support.