In December 2023, Freedom Reads, the National Book Foundation, and the Center for Justice Innovation, with support from Lori Feathers, launched the Inside Literary Prize, which seeks to honor the insights incarcerated readers add to cultural conversations.
The first Prize was awarded on August 1, 2024, to Imani Perry, author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, chosen by a jury of more than 200 incarcerated readers across the United States.
The Inside Literary Prize is about more than selecting a winning book. It’s about:
- Inspiring hope and joy for readers by connecting people to books in new and meaningful ways.
- Providing opportunities for readers to engage in profound and sustained discussion about books that represent the best of contemporary American literature.
- Providing a national platform to recognize the wisdom of incarcerated people who, by reading literature that is shaping our current era, participate in a national cultural conversation that is shaping our current era, participate in a national cultural conversation.
2026 Shortlist
Ædnan
Set in northern Scandinavia across the twentieth century, Ædnan traces how forced assimilation reshaped the lives of the Sámi—Indigenous reindeer herders and stewards of the land. Policies stripped language, culture, and autonomy as the state seized Sámi territories. Told in lyrical fragments, the book follows generations navigating loss, endurance, and uneasy memory.
All Fours
Set along sun-bleached Southern California highways, All Fours follows a woman and mother whose supposedly simple and solo road trip tilts toward a humorous, unexpected alternate life. Motels hum, desert winds heckle, and the lure of reinvention stays just out of reach. Every detour dares her onward, pushing her to circle a truth that seems determined to catch her before she can fully recognize it at last.
Martyr!
Martyr! follows Cyrus Shams, an IIranian American poet adrift in grief, addiction, and unanswered questions about his mother’s death on a downed flight. Obsessed with martyrdom in all its tangled forms, he drifts through art, faith, and memory while searching for meaning in a country that misunderstands him. Darkly funny and achingly tender, the novel charts a restless quest for transcendence—and the dangerous, luminous stories we build to survive ourselves.
My Friends
Set across decades of exile in the UK and memories of a past life in Libya, My Friends follows Khaled as he traverses the delicate terrain between safety and connection as a political refugee. Letters, phone calls, and fleeting visits become lifelines as the present threatens to rewrite the past. Exacting, tender, and unafraid of contradiction, the novel illuminates how friendship can both ground us and leave us feeling alone.
The Book Censor’s Library
Set in a dystopian future in an unspecified country, The Book Censor’s Library explores how authoritarian regimes shrink imagination by policing stories. In a labyrinth of archives, a censor begins to doubt the purpose of banning “dangerous” books, while discovering how even a single redaction can spark quiet rebellion. When language becomes both a weapon and refuge, the forbidden proves unforgettable.
The Freedom Reads Inside Literary Prize was more than a competition—it was my salvation. It gave me a community, a sense of belonging, and renewed hope for the future. It showed me the humanity within myself and others, something prison can so easily erase.
There is no question that this is the highest possible honor a book like this could ever receive. I take it to mean those who judged believed I was not careless or callous, that I use language in a way that felt like truth. This retroactive mandate is a gift I can never repay, but one I will forever be grateful for.