THE TIME IS NOW!
IT HAPPENED!
LOVE LOCKDOWN is out in the world today, though I know some of you whippersnappers have already received yours since Amazon can’t abide the laws of time and space, which is fine by me!
If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of these noisome book publicity newsletters, you know the deal. Here are the ways to support the book blah blah and fret not, I am WILL be pimping my wares, so you can read all about the blah blah at the end. But I first want to take a moment to tell you about some of the incredible organizations I encountered while reporting this book….
Black & Pink: Check out their pen pal pairing app which connects people on the outside with incarcerated LGBTQ+ people. Letter writing is an effective harm reduction tool and if you care about ending mass incarceration in this country, this is one very simple and human-level action you can take. Today! For the cost of a stamp!
Strong Prison Wives & Families: A network and support group of over 60,000 members worldwide who have a loved one in prison. I met some of the most inspiring women through this group, and you may know someone who is in need of a community of nonjudgmental peers. As they state on their website, 1 in 4 women have an incarcerated loved one and 1 in 28 children have an incarcerated parent.
Hudson Link: A nonprofit that provides college education, life skills, and reentry support to incarcerated people in the New York area. Two people I profiled, Fernando Bermudez and Ivié de Molina, earned their college degrees via programs Hudson Link offered in Sing Sing and Bedford Hills.
The Marshall Project: A nonprofit news organization that does the most fantastic in-depth reporting on the U.S. criminal justice system. I relied on their work A TON in my research, but they also publish first-person essays from people inside.
All of these organizations accept donations too, and I will be donating to them today.
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As Love Lockdown makes its way into the world, I’d be so grateful if you wouldn’t mind sharing it around, whether telling your auntie or bestie or side chick or nemesis about it, or posting on the ‘gram or the ‘tok (that’s a thing, right? -me, an elder) and giving it five stars on venues that see fit to impose that digestible and loathsome rubric onto literature.
I’ve got some events coming up, so you can RSVP and cash me…
VIRTUAL LAUNCH! July 14 (that’s tomorrow!) at 7pm in conversation with THE Benjamin Lorr via powerhouse Arena. RSVP here!
Politics & Prose LIVE July 21 at 6pm in conversation with Rafia Zakaria, author of the forthcoming Against White Feminism. Will we stage a viral fight over white feminism and its discontents?! You must RSVP here to know!
You can read an excerpt of the Introduction on LitHub
Teddy Wayne asked me the most fun questions I’ve answered in a long while
The New York Times did too
The San Francisco Chronicle calls the book “piercing”!
Lena Dunham told Twitter I am “masterful.” Her words!
And with that I’m going to go put on my compression socks and call it a day. Thank you!