<head><style>body{font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:9pt;background-color: #ffffff;color: black;}</style><style>body{font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:9pt;background-color: #ffffff;color: black;}</style></head><body><div id="compText"><br><br><br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 0px;">-----Forwarded Message-----
<br>From: Cambridge Forum <camforum@earthlink.net>
<br>Sent: Apr 11, 2007 1:10 PM
<br>To: director@cambridgeforum.org
<br>Subject: 4/19 Writing To, From and About American Prisons at Cambridge Forum
<br><br><zzzhead>
<zzzmeta content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name="GENERATOR"></zzzmeta>
<zzzbody>
</zzzbody></zzzhead></camforum@earthlink.net><div id="compText">
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 255); padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 0px;">
<div id="compText">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Humanst521 Cn BT';">Cambridge Forum</span></b><a name="BM4"><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"><span> </span>3 Church Street</span></b></span><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span></b><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'WP TypographicSymbols';">!</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"> Cambridge, MA 02138<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial;"><span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black; font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT;">PEN New England and the Cambridge Forum to host<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 16pt; color: black; font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT;">WRITING ON THE WALLS</span></b><b><i><span style="font-size: 18pt; color: black; font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-BoldItalicMT;">: American Prison Writing<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; color: black; font-family: TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT;">April 19, 2007, 7:30 p.m.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The First Parish (Unitarian Universalist) in Cambridge<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">3 Church Street<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Cambridge, MA 02138</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Arial;">Free and Open to the Public<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">On Thursday, April 19, PEN New England’s Freedom-to-Write (FTW) Committee, in partnership with the Cambridge Forum, will host <b><i>Writing on the Walls</i></b>, a panel discussion about writing in, from, and about American prisons. The event will take place at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church at 3 Church Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge, at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Books by the participants will be available for sale and signing courtesy of the Harvard Bookstore.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">The panel, moderated by <b>Dr. H. Bruce Franklin</b>, Rutgers University professor and author of <i>Prison Writings in 20th Century America</i>, will feature:<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">• <b>Jennifer Gonnerman</b>, former <i>Village Voice </i>reporter, author of the National Book Award finalist <i>Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett</i>;<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">• <b>Jimmy Santiago Baca</b>, former inmate who, during five years in a maximum security prison, found a passion for poetry. Winner of a Pushcart Prize and an American Book Award, he is the author of <i>A Place to Stand </i>and <i>The Importance of a Piece of Paper</i>;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">• <b>Jean Trounstine</b>, author of <i>Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison, </i>documenting her ten years of work at Framingham Women’s Prison teaching literature and writing;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">• <b>Dwayne Betts</b>, former inmate of eight years and gifted poet, subsequently founded the YoungMenRead book club at the Washington, DC, bookstore he managed; subject of a recent feature article in the <i>Washington</i> <i>Post</i>, he’s now a Writer in Residence at the DC Creative Writing Workshops and a Cave Canem fellow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">Writing on the Walls </span></i></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">is being held in conjunction with the presentation of PEN New England’s annual <i>Vasyl Stus Freedom-to-Write Award </i>and the <i>Thomas Paine Freedom-to-Write Award for American Writers</i>. The 2007 Paine<i> </i>Award will be presented to <b>Piri Thomas</b>, author of the seminal 1967 memoir <b><i>Down These Mean Streets</i></b>—chronicling “his downward spiral from the barrio to Sing Sing [as well as] his redemption . . . through suffering, endurance, and desire for understanding.”<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">PEN New England </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">is one of five regional branches of PEN American Center, which in turn is part of International PEN, the only worldwide organization of writing professionals (and the world’s first human rights organization). Our mission is to promote literacy and a culture of literature, and to defend free expression everywhere</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Cambridge Forum</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> is open to the public.<span> </span>Open discussion follows speaker presentation.<span> </span>Events are taped and edited for public radio broadcast throughout the nation.<span> </span>Edited CDs are available to the public by contacting 617-495-2727.<span> </span>Select forums can be viewed in their entirety on demand by visiting our website at <a href="http://www.cambridgeforum.org/"><span class="SYSHYPERTEXT"><span style="font-weight: normal;">www.cambridgeforum.org</span></span></a> and clicking on the WGBH Forum Network.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black;">For more information contact pen_ne@emerson.edu, and visit cambridgeforum.org</span></p></div></blockquote></div><pre>
Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone/fax: 617-495-2727
email: mailto:director@cambridgeforum.org
website: http://www.cambridgeforum.org
"Bringing People together to talk again . . ."
</pre>
</blockquote></div></body><PRE>
Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone/fax: 617-495-2727
email: mailto:director@cambridgeforum.org
website: http://www.cambridgeforum.org
"Bringing People together to talk again . . ."
</PRE>