We need to raise $50,000 by Nov. 19th
Fifteen years ago, ten students at Lino Lakes prison sat down for MPWW’s very first class. Since then, some of those early students have published books, earned advanced degrees, and mentored the writers who came after them.
This anniversary is also bittersweet. Some of the writers from those first classes are still inside. For fifteen years, they’ve kept writing through lockdowns, transfers, and losses. We owe them the promise to keep coming back.
Our fall fundraiser runs through November 18th, and we need to raise $50,000 to sustain our work in Minnesota prisons next year. Will you help us reach that goal with a gift of any amount?
Mission
Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW) fosters literary community and a devotion to art inside Minnesota correctional facilities through high-quality creative writing classes and related programming. During incarceration and throughout reentry, we empower writers, challenge stereotypes about the incarcerated population, and promote a vision of rehabilitation and restorative justice through art. We also seek to bridge the divide between literary communities inside and outside of prison by creating platforms for our students’ work.
History
MPWW was founded in 2011 with a single creative writing class at Lino Lakes Prison. Since then, we’ve grown into an organization of over 25 instructors who have taught more than 250 creative writing classes to over 3,000 men and women in every adult state prison in Minnesota. We are now the largest and most enduring prison-based literary organization in the country. Learn more about our classes and other programs here.
