By Heart: Poetry, Prison, and Two Lives - Hardcover

Tannenbaum, Judith; Jackson, Spoon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1613320655 ISBN 13: 9781613320655

Publisher: New Village Press, 2010

Synopsis

A two-person memoir that explores education, prison, possibility, and which children our world nurtures and which it shuns. At the books core are two stories that speak up for human imagination, spirit, and the power of art.

"A boy with no one to listen becomes a man in prison for life and discovers his mind can be free. A woman enters prison to teach and becomes his first listener. And so begins a twenty-five year friendship between two gifted writers and poets. The result is By Heart a book that will anger you, give you hope, and break your heart."
- Gloria Steinem

Judith Tannenbaum and Spoon Jackson met at San Quentin State Prison in 1985. For over two decades they have conferred, corresponded and sometimes collaborated, producing very different bodies of work resting on the same understanding: that human beings have one foot in darkness, the other in light.
In this beautifully crafted exploration, part memoir, part essay, Tannenbaum and Jackson consider art, education, prison, possibility, and which children our world nurtures and which it shuns. At the book's core are two stories that speak for human imagination, spirit, and expression.

Judith Tannenbaum is a nationally respected educator, speaker, and author. Among her books are the memoir, Disguised as a Poem: My Years Teaching Poetry at San Quentin; two books for teachers: Teeth, Wiggly as Earthquakes: Writing Poetry in the Primary Grades and (with Valerie Chow Bush) Jump Write In! Creative Writing Exercises for Diverse Communities, Grades 6-12; and six poetry collections. She currently serves as training coordinator with WritersCorps in San Francisco.

Born into a family of fifteen boys in Barstow, California, Spoon Jackson was sentenced to Life Without Possibility of Parole when he was twenty years old. Spoon discovered himself as a writer at San Quentin; played Pozzo in the prison's 1988 production of Waiting for Godot; and has written, published, and received awards for plays, poetry, novels, fairy tales, short stories, essays, and memoir during the more than thirty years he has been behind bars. His poems are collected in Longer Ago.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This two-person memoir delves deeply into art, education, prison, possibility, and which children our world nurtures and which it shuns.

"A boy with no one to listen becomes a man in prison for life. He reads for the first time, and discovers his mind can be free. A woman poet enters a prison to teach, becomes his first listener, and so begin twenty-five years of friendship between two gifted writers and poets... their book will open your heart." --Gloria Steinem

"A portrait of prison and of the pursuit of art. An amazing combo, a compelling read." --Bill Irwin, TONY winning actor, appeared in the Broadway revival of Waiting for Godot

"This is a book about poetry, about struggle, about freedom and incarceration, and most of all about heart." --devorah major, San Francisco Poet Laureate 2002-2005

"Bravo Judith and Spoon for a beautiful work of art." --Piri Thomas, writer, poet, author of "Down These Mean Streets"

"By Heart is so beautifully described, both objectively and emotionally." --Barney Rosset, Publisher/Editor of Grove Press 1951-1985

"This double memoir is imperative for artists who understand the need to reveal and share our common humanity. Spoon Jackson's and Judith Tannenbaum's journeys through childhood, love, loss, and back to poetry move and astound me." --Rhodessa Jones, Founder/Artistic Director of The Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women|
This two-person memoir delves deeply into art, education, prison, possibility, and which children our world nurtures and which it shuns.

"A boy with no one to listen becomes a man in prison for life. He reads for the first time, and discovers his mind can be free. A woman poet enters a prison to teach, becomes his first listener, and so begin twenty-five years of friendship between two gifted writers and poets... their book will open your heart." --Gloria Steinem

"A portrait of prison and of the pursuit of art. An amazing combo, a compelling read." --Bill Irwin, TONY winning actor, appeared in the Broadway revival of Waiting for Godot

"This is a book about poetry, about struggle, about freedom and incarceration, and most of all about heart." --devorah major, San Francisco Poet Laureate 2002-2005

"Bravo Judith and Spoon for a beautiful work of art." --Piri Thomas, writer, poet, author of "Down These Mean Streets"

"By Heart is so beautifully described, both objectively and emotionally." --Barney Rosset, Publisher/Editor of Grove Press 1951-1985

"This double memoir is imperative for artists who understand the need to reveal and share our common humanity. Spoon Jackson's and Judith Tannenbaum's journeys through childhood, love, loss, and back to poetry move and astound me." --Rhodessa Jones, Founder/Artistic Director of The Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women

About the Author:

Judith Tannenbaum currently serves as training coordinator for WritersCorps in San Francisco. Tannenbaum has taught poetry in a wide variety of settings from primary school classrooms to maximum security prisons.

Spoon Jackson was born in Barstow, California, the heart of the high desert. He began serving a life without possibility of parole sentence at age twenty.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Village Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1613320655
• ISBN 13: 9781613320655
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 198