Herstory Beyond Bars Fellowship

This national program, designed for competitively selected fellows working on cutting-edge projects, combines a master writing workshop, think tank, and innovative way of using stories in the carceral justice arena. 2024-25 fellows include a religion professor working with men on death row in Tennessee, men from an organization of formerly incarcerated teachers who have developed curriculum juxtaposing Shakespeare monologues with their personal monologues, and members of prison families young and old. In weekly practicum meetings, the fellows read aloud and advance their own memoirs in progress while expanding and questioning the discourse around restorative justice, accountability, moral judgment, forgiveness, and criminalization itself. All fellows are charged with further developing and refining Herstory’s Beyond Bars online curriculum to make it as effective as possible for use behind and beyond bars, with the goal of creating new literary works that will serve as calls to action, raise public awareness, and foster dialogue about systemic change.