The adventures of an accidental prison librarian

More than a few famous people made themselves over in prison. Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Jesus Chris. In a way, so did Avi Steinberg.

A recent college grad who was floundering with his place in life and his career, Ari responded to an ad on Craigslist a few years back. The job listing was for a prison librarian at the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston. He was hired almost immediately.

In addition to running the library at the prison, Avi also taught creative writing classes, intercepted hundreds of love notes, suffered from nerves, got mugged by a former inmate, and gained the inspiration for his new memoir ?Running The Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian.?

Avi is talks with us about his memoir, and about the best and worst moments from his time behind bars.