Bøger udgivet af Bleakhouse Publishing

In this debut collection, Phillip Vance Smith II shows us the profound consequences of a life-without-parole sentence. With quiet power, his poems examine trauma and inhumane treatment yet unearth hope for himself and for us all.

Death row prisoner George T. Wilkerson and criminology professor Robert Johnson explore the psychological experiences unique to those serving death sentences. Using essays, short stories, and poetry grounded in first-hand experience as well as interviews and surveys with other death row prisoners, Bone Orchard examines the ways a death sentence poses existential burdens on the condemned and those who love them. Wilkerson and Johnson touch on elements key to understanding life under sentence of death, including banishment, isolation, the avoidance of calendars and the bending of time, ever-present reminders of mortality, a 'dead man walking' syndrome that unfolds over decades on death row, and more. At times darkly humorous, Bone Orchard digs deep to reveal what it's really like to live in the shadow of the executioner.

Anthony G. Amsterdam, arguably the great civil rights attorney of our time, has written a collection of poems described by one reviewer as "fearlessly truthful and ferociously intelligent" offering "insights wide and deep that cross time and illuminate a vast array of subjects," from social justice to cap

Drawing on his personal experiences in and out of prison, and an uncanny ability to describe the indescribable, John Corley guides the reader on a walking tour of the light and dark sides of the street, accompanied by a demonstrated intimacy with both.

Tacenda Literary Magazine is an annual literary magazine devoted to matters relating to crime, punishment, and social justice.

Tacenda is a literary magazine devoted to matters relating to crime, punishment, and social justice. The magazine is published by BleakHouse Publishing.

This book is nothing less than profound, placing all of us "in the shadows" of life, loss, love, and redemption, "feeling the possibilities" and yearning to be "awoken by the sun's garish smile," portending care and fulfillment in our personal lives and in the lives of others around us.

Each page of Tacenda 2015 exposes our criminal justice system. Some of our authors have been entangled in the system. Some are still in prison. All of our artists have thought about the experience of men and women behind bars. The men and women we label criminals but often forget to label as human. Together, these original works of literature challenge popular notions of crime. They shed light on what it means to be a prisoner, and ultimately, what it means to be human.

Alexa Marie Kelly's new book of poems puts to rest any delusions about race in America, especially with respect to the criminal justice system. She masters the difficult challenge of capturing imprisonment, including executions and suicides, from an exclusively free perspective. Few outsiders can understand a life in which the man or woman never feels safe anywhere, but Kelly eloquently describes it: "The caged heart has no mornings." Black Bone is disturbing but also necessary if this country is ever to move into a post-racial society and leave behind the perpetual long, dark night of a criminal justice system that values money and power over the individual. It is a tonic to the misinformation one hears during the unending election cycles and a volume that should be on any thinking person's reading list.

In the words of award-winning poet Charles Huckelbury: This collection is indeed an elegy, one that, in lush, sensual tones, bids farewell to old terrors through a rare and revealing embrace of the world one encounters. It is also a manual for thoughtful living that will call to the reader often and should be kept close at hand to save time searching the bookshelves.

The 2014 edition of Tacenda Literary Magazine features poetry, short stories, plays, essays, and photography produced by a diverse collection of authors drawn from all walks of life: students, prisoners, writers, and photographers, all united in their passionate commitment to justice. Each page of Tacenda 2014 exposes our criminal justice system, reminding us of the enduring humanity and worth of the men and women we so readily label criminal.

Chandra Bozelko's Up the River Anthology projects many voices. But it is Bozelko's voice that harmonizes the discordant and disconcerting fragments of our criminal justice system. She examines her life as a prison inmate in this riveting poetry collection. Up the River presents a deadly theater. Bozelko writes about personal, damning, damaging experiences through the eyes of the supporting players of prison life. Her characters act out their roles on this rigid, often tyrannical stage. Full of heart, Bozelko's collection leaves us to wonder not, what did she do? but rather, what have we done?

Miller's Revenge is a novel about a prison homicide written by criminologist Robert Johnson. The main character is Robert Miller, a detective who describes himself as "a murder cop, detailed from the inner city of Baltimore to the cell blocks of the state penitentiary. That's my beat-the prison, the pen, the house, call it what you like. Just be glad you're not there. You might not live to tell about it." Miller's observations and interrogations offer a telling commentary on prison violence, prison culture, and the meaning of justice in the closed and often brutal world of the prison. (Cover art and text design by Sonia Tabriz, cover design by Liz Calka, and interior illustrations by Rachel Ternes.)

The creative works featured in the 2013 edition of Tacenda Literary Magazine contribute to a thoughtful understanding of the death penalty, following the condemned prisoner from trial to conviction and ultimately to death in the execution chamber.

The works featured in the 2012 edition of Tacenda Literary Magazine contribute to a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted world of crime and punishment, providing a literary window onto a world of hurt and loss and enduring hope that is too often hidden from view.

"Callahan, with the subtle grace and artistry of a writer beyond her years, paints a raw and accurate landscape of the criminal justice system in her debut short story, Why the Corrida. By placing the defendant Romero into the bull ring of the jail and the courtroom, the audience bears witness to the spectacle of the accused. As Romero fights for his life while the spectators cheer for his death, Callahan's astute analysis forces us to question what type of game we are truly participating in when we seek to kill fellow human beings in the name of justice." Shirin Karimi, author of Enclosures: Reflections from the Prison Cell and the Hospital Bed

We don't often think about the sheer and agonizing loneliness experienced in prisons for women. Even less do we realize that the damaged women we relegate to prison are also confined by the abuses that have shaped and often warped their lives. From the emotional prisons these women carry within, we learn in Cell Buddy: The Story & The Play, there is no escape. Ellen W. Kaplan, Director of Theatre and Professor of Acting and Directing, Smith College, and author of several plays, as well as the text, Images of Mental Illness in Text and Performance.

Charles Huckelbury transcends the bounds of his confinement in Distant Thunder, illuminating the darkest corners of the human condition. In poignant verse etched in delicate detail, Huckelbury exposes the depths of despair and the miracle of enduring hope.

The short stories, poems, and photographs featured in the Spring 2011 edition of Tacenda Literary Magazine contribute another layer to our understanding of the multifaceted world of crime and punishment. By offering unique and contemplative insights into the justice system, the works featured here both educate and illuminate the public on the dark corners of our society that we ignore at our peril.

In this enthralling book of poetry, Enclosures, Shirin Karimi explores suffering and loss among the ill and imprisoned, bringing us to the heart of what it means to be human: in the face of adversity we can either be crushed by the weight of our lives or we can become, if only for a moment, "Weightless, like astronauts or angels." With wisdom and compassion beyond her years, Karimi shows us, with aching beauty, the resiliency of the human spirit in times of great loss.

We have found our modern day Chaucer in the hands of the poet Charles Huckelbury. Here "the baddest bouncer in the / baddest bar" - Little David, part medieval knight, part "Jesse goddamn James," part "Leonidas before the Persians" - narrates a series of tales that will leave you laughing and weeping at the spectacle of humanity in all its guises, from bikers to castaways, from strippers to real estate salesmen, from queens to dope fiends. Huckelbury finds poetry in the most surprising of places, and ultimately reminds us how the ache of loss keeps us searching for beauty and meaning.

In this book of original poems, a distinguished criminologist takes the reader on what one prisoner called "an elegiac journey from crime to arrest to confession to trial and ultimately to prison."