This Book is Free and Yours to Keep: Notes from the Appalachian Prison Book Project

by Connie Banta (Editor), Kristin DeVault-Juelfs, Destinee Harper

2024 Weatherford Award Winner, Nonfiction

This Book Is Free and Yours to Keep presents a captivating collection of letters and artwork by people in prison that highlights the crucial work done by the Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP), a nonprofit that provides books to incarcerated people in West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Maryland. Through the words of people directly impacted by the criminal punishment system, the collection provides uncommon insight into reading practices and everyday life in prisons and jails while being an inspiration for prison book projects, prison reform, and abolition.

Simultaneously communicating the vital importance of access to books and education, and conveying the power of community, the letters sent to APBP by incarcerated people spark conversations about race, poverty, and incarceration and shed light on the movement for accountability for state violence. This Book Is Free and Yours to Keep elucidates the violence and neglect perpetuated by carceral systems and offers a way forward based on solidarity and collaboration.

Genres: Nonfiction

242 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2024

Reviews

[j :)]

From the foreword to the afterword—and every page in between—this is a magnetically poignant and expertly crafted collection of stories, poems, reflections, and artworks shared from the most colorful and intimate parts of justice-impacted individuals’ souls. I’m beyond moved and grateful to read every word and take in every drawing. I hope to one day live in the world APBP imagines: a love of books persists evermore, but bars don’t bind us.

[Heather Laskos]

This book was a good overview about the Appalachian Prison Book Project and included letters from prisoners about what the project meant to them. It is a population I don't normally think about, so it was fascinating to see this insight.

[Angel]

Quick impressions: The book overall is an easy read. It is also a powerful document of the human spirit. It is also an important book about the region and the impact of the prison industrial complex in the region.

(Full review with additional reading notes available on my blog soon.)

[Tom Musbach]

I have done some volunteer work lately with APBP, and this book is a collection of notes, reflections from inmates and others who have benefited from the project. Some of the material is inspiring. Best parts are the prose sections that detail the organization’s history and development.