Introducing Curtis Dawkins and the Prison Book Review Program

Update: BULL’s Prison Reviews of Coover, Ridge, and Pelecanos can be found here!

Of all the projects we’re rolling out for the “New BULL” this winter, I’m most excited for our revamped book reviews, especially those to come out of our new Prison Review program. I hope we can lend a fresh perspective on book reviews, which I typically find off-putting—either egregious back-patting or inaccessible pedantry. What I want is real life, an honest assessment of a book and the experience of reading it. But first, I want to explain where this is coming from:

About a year ago I started receiving review copies of books from agencies and publishers, often 3 or 4 at a time. I am but one man here at BULL HQ, with two kids that leave slim opportunity to tend to my own reading interests, not to mention a steadily (and happily) growing submission queue. Naturally, the review books sat unread upon my desk, a reminder of all the time I’d never have for them. I sent a few to BULL staffers around the country, but they no doubt met a similar fate. It’s the 21st Century; everyone is busy.

At the same time I was reading the 10th issue of Hobart, and came across a few short pieces by this guy, Curtis Dawkins. The stories were frankly told, easy and casual, plainspoken and sneakily profound. I thought—goddamn, this is our man. This is the voice that I want telling me about current books. His bio said he had sold Saturn cars to people and casings to the meat packing industry. It also said he was an inmate in a correctional facility up in Michigan.

Which, for me, only sealed the deal. Because here was someone for whom those books would not be a symbol of the time he didn’t have, but the time he did—the time he was resigned to and now had to live with. And here was a perspective that may more accurately see each of those books for what it was: a printed and perfect-bound escape. In short, the value of those books would increase exponentially in his hands and behind those bars. I wrote Curtis, and I’m pleased to say his first review will be up on the site this season.

Depending on the response, I hope to expand our book review program to other incarcerated individuals. If you’re an agency, author, or publisher big or small, I hope you’ll take part. Find more details here.

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