Chris Belden and Friends | Closer to Freedom
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Join us for readings from Closer to Freedom, an anthology of poetry and prose by members of a writing workshop that novelist and Westport Writers’ Workshop instructor Chris Belden ran for ten years at Garner Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Newtown. The readings are by (left to right in the attached photo) Alexis Melendez, Mark Aldrich, Floyd Lawrence, Belden, and Jamal (not pictured). Melendez, Lawrence, and Jamal attended Belden’s workshop at Garner as well as the theater workshop led by Aldrich, and all are now productive members of society. There will also be a performance of the short play “The Confrontation,” written and originally performed at Garner by incarcerated men, performed at this program by Aldrich and Lawrence. A Q & A will follow as time allows.
About Chris Belden: Chris Belden is the author of the novels Shriver and Carry-on, & the story collection The Floating Lady of Lake Tawaba, which won the Fairfield/New Rivers Book Prize. Writer/director Michael Maren shot the film version of Shriver, titled A Little White Lie, starring Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson, Don Johnson. A Little White Lie was released in March 2023 and can be streamed on Hulu and Amazon Prime.
