On today’s episode we talk with poet, author, activist, and attorney Reginald Dwayne Betts (Felon). In the conversation we explore the ways we police and punish ourselves and the people around us, the conditions of worthiness, and the balance between form and word choice in poetry. Dwayne also shares about his nonprofit, Million Book Project, and the work they do to bring books into prisons.

Click here to be part of The Stacks fundraiser for Million Book Project.

The Stacks Book Club selection for April is The Tradition by Jericho Brown, we will discuss the book with Reginald Dwayne Betts on Wednesday April 7th.

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.

Books:

• Felon by Reginald Dwayne Betts
• Sonia Sanchez
• Walter Mosley
• The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams
• A Question of Freedom by Dwayne Betts
• The Tradition by Jericho Brown
• Heavy by Kiese Laymon
• Women Talking by Miriam Toews
• Black Boy by Richard Wright
• The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
• A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power
• Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson
• A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
• Columbine by Dave Cullen
• Stakes is High by Mychal Denzel Smith
• Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• Into the Air by Jon Krakauer
• Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
• Tis by Frank McCourt
• Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
• The Fly Swatter by Nicholas Dawidoff
• The Catcher Was a Spy by Nicholas Dawidoff
• All God’s Dangers by Theodore Rosengarten
• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
• Shibumi by Trevanian
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
• The Art of Raising a Puppy by The Monks of New Skete
• How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
• The Odyssey by Homer
• Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
• I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
• Stephen King
• Harold Bloom
• Ghettoside by Jill Leovy
• Insurrections by Rion Amilcar Scott 
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Black Reconstruction by W. E. B. Du Bois
• Jack Kerouac
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• Brothers and Keeper by John Edgar Wideman
• Mitchell S. Jackson

Everything Else:

• The Million Book Project
• “Ep. 143 The Best of 2020 with Christine Bollow and Oscar Almonte-Espinal” (The Stacks)
• “Kamala Harris, Mass Incarceration, and Me” (Reginald Dwayne Betts, The New York Times Magazine)
• Howard University
• The University of Maryland
• Ghazal
• “Ghazal” by Reginald Dwayne Betts
• “The Short Stacks 11: Miriam Toews//Women Talking” (The Stacks)
• The Freedom Takes (Million Book Project)
• “Starving Child and Vulture” (Kevin Carter, 1993)
• “Power” by Audre Lorde
• “This Be the Verse” by Philip Larkin
• “Name That Book” (Million Book Project)

Connect with Dwayne: Twitter | Instagram | Website | Million Book Project

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Apple Podcasts | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

---

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.