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.
The story you just read is accessible and free to all because thousands of listeners and readers contribute to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciated our coverage this year, if there was a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work through 2024 and beyond?