Breaking Out: Voices from the Inside is meant to shed light on the experiences of the criminal justice system through a night of performances celebrating last year’s PEN America Prison Writing Award winners. Prominent local authors will perform the award-winning pieces of poetry, fiction, memoir, & theater written by incarcerated writers. Performers include a cross-section of activists, artists, journalists, politicians & policymakers, who represent & work with communities who have been impacted by mass incarceration.

2019 marks the 10th anniversary of Words Without Walls, a creative partnership between Chatham University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, Allegheny County Jail, & Sojourner House, a drug treatment facility for mothers in recovery. Words Without Walls serves over 300 incarcerated & formerly incarcerated writers in Allegheny County annually, through high quality creative writing classes, opportunities for print & online publication, public events, the Maenad Fellowship Program, & an award-winning reading series that brings some of the nation’s best writers to Pittsburgh. Our participants have gone on to have their writing published in national & international venues, & have been recognized with national honors including PEN America prizes.