A Conversation with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH was raised in Spring Valley, New York, and now lives in the Bronx. A multi-award-winning author, his first novel Chain-Gang All-Stars was a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction. In this dystopian novel, CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, is a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America’s increasingly dominant private prison industry. Prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protesters at the gates. It’s the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom. Chain-Gang All-Stars lays bare the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means. LEARN MORE

HOST

JASON HERNDON (he/him) is an author of speculative fiction and poetry. All his characters are Black unless otherwise noted. A psychologist by training, he is fascinated by people, families, and their relationships. His work appears in Star*Line Magazine, Inkwell Black, Visual Verse, and Serotonin. Originally from Texas, he now resides in Greensboro, NC with his wife and dog.