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The Prison Book Club by Ann Walmsley
2016: Ann Walmsley, The Prison Book Club

2016: Ann Walmsley, The Prison Book Club

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Description

An attack in London left Ann Walmsley unable to walk alone down the street, and shook her belief in the fundamental goodness of people. A few years later, when a friend asked her to participate in a bold new venture in a men's medium security prison, Ann had to weigh her curiosity and desire to be of service against her anxiety and fear.

But she signed on, and for 18 months went to a remote building at Collins Bay, meeting a group of heavily tattooed book club members without the presence of guards or security cameras. There was no wine and cheese, no plush furnishings. But a book club on the inside proved to be a place to share ideas and regain a sense of humanity.

Judges' Comments

Despite being traumatized by a mugging she experienced while living in London, England, journalist Ann Walmsley agreed to help a friend establish book clubs in two quite different Ontario men’s prisons. The Prison Book Club is a record of book club meeting discussions, presented in a straightforward and engaging manner that draws the reader into the conversations and lives of the book club members, and briefly, into Walmsley’s own journey to overcoming her initial fear of working with inmates. She concludes with short descriptions of the lives of a handful of book club members beyond their prison terms, leaving no doubt as to the profound impact prison book clubs can have on those who are given the opportunity to take part in them.    

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Explore the works of our previous Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction winners.

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