The finalists for the Inside Literary Prize, the award judged by people serving time in U.S. prisons, has been revealed.
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was named a finalist for Chain-Gang All-Stars, his novel about two incarcerated women who are forced to participate in televised duels to the death.
Paul Harding made the shortlist for This Other Eden, previously a Pulitzer Prize winner. The other books named finalists were Blackouts by Justin Torres, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and On a Woman’s Madness, written by Astrid Roemer and translated by Lucy Scott.
All four books were finalists for the National Book Award; Torres won the prize in 2023. The Inside Literary Prize was launched last year by the National Book Foundation, which hosts the National Book Awards; Freedom Reads; and the Center for Justice Innovation; alongside bookseller and podcaster Lori Feathers. The inaugural winner of the prize was Imani Perry for South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon To Understand the Soul of a Nation.
This year’s award will be judged by 300 incarcerated people serving time in 12 prisons across the United States. Phillip Smith, one of last year’s judges and a member of this year’s selection committee, said that he hopes that “the works the committee selected will entertain the judges and introduce them to a world they may have never known otherwise.”
The winner of this year’s award will be announced in June.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
