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Prisoners Judge Literary Prize Winner
20 Aug
Summary
- Book Censor's Library won the Inside Literary Prize.
- Incarcerated readers judged over 1,650 books.
- The prize celebrates voices often excluded from culture.
The third annual Inside Literary Prize has been awarded to Bothayna Al-Essa's "The Book Censor's Library." This significant literary honor is unique as the nation's only prize judged entirely by incarcerated readers. The winning novel, translated by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain, depicts a dystopian future where a censor questions the banning of books and discovers rebellion sparked by redacted stories.
The judging process involved nearly 200 incarcerated individuals across 11 correctional facilities in Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Washington. These readers evaluated over 1,650 books. The prize, launched in 2023 by Freedom Reads, the National Book Foundation, and the Center for Justice Innovation, aims to highlight perspectives often excluded from mainstream cultural conversations and foster transformative hope through literature.
The award ceremony is scheduled for Thursday, September 3, at The New York Public Library. The event will feature recorded video messages from incarcerated judges. Previous winners of the prize include Imani Perry and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, with finalists this year also including Linnea Axelsson, Miranda July, Kaveh Akbar, and Hisham Matar.
