Deborah Appleman Featured in Star Tribune Story on the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop
Deborah Appleman, Hollis L. Caswell Professor of Educational Studies, Chair of Educational Studies, and Director of American Studies, is featured in a recent Star Tribune story, “Writing workshop cultivates prisoners’ creative sides” (8/5/2014). The piece highlights the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW), which leads creative writing classes at various state prisons.
Founded in 2011, today the MPWW leads classes in poetry, spoken word, oral storytelling, children’s literature, fantasy, essay and more at six state prisons. Hundreds of incarcerated men have taken courses through the MPWW and twenty-two students also have mentors “on the outside.”
Deborah Appleman, Hollis L. Caswell Professor of Educational Studies, Chair of Educational Studies, and Director of American Studies, is featured in a recent Star Tribune story, “Writing workshop cultivates prisoners’ creative sides” (8/5/2014). The piece highlights the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW), which leads creative writing classes at various state prisons.
Founded in 2011, today the MPWW leads classes in poetry, spoken word, oral storytelling, children’s literature, fantasy, essay and more at six state prisons. Hundreds of incarcerated men have taken courses through the MPWW and twenty-two students also have mentors “on the outside.”
MPWW faculty member Appleman explains, “The writing process is cathartic; the inmates describe everything from prison to their lost loves. Their pieces have a wistful quality, a sense of longing.”
Although he is not mentioned in the article, Professor of French and Director of Cross Cultural Studies Scott Carpenter is also a faculty member of the MPWW.
For more information about the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, go to www.mnprisonwriting.org/.