Greensboro Bound

Crimson Letters: Voice from Death Row, Tessie Castillo with special guest Dr. Robert A. Brown and co-author George Wilkerson
2020-06-25 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York) | ZOOM
Join us in a critical four-part conversation on criminal justice and death penalty reform, racial and socio-economic inequality, and quite simply, the human dignity that each of us deserves.
Each of Tessie’s four co-authors and a special guest will join us for a live call-in four successive events.

How to Watch
Visit zoom.us
Meeting ID: 854 7826 3169
Password: [REDACTED]

JUNE 25

Topic: Racial Justice and Defunding Police: What It Is (and Isn’t)
Discussion: The Minneapolis City Council recently announced its intention to defund and dismantle the police department. Other cities have announced plans to defund police. What does it mean to defund police? What are the potential benefits and drawbacks? How might defunding police fit into the goals of broader racial justice reform across the US? We will discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks of defunding police, as well as why racial justice is a necessary precursor to any type of criminal justice reform. Lastly, we will set out a blueprint for what people of all backgrounds can do to raise consciousness and support anti-racism efforts.
Special Guest: Dr Robert A. Brown, Chair in the Department of Criminal Justice at North Carolina Central University + co-author George Wilkerson.

About Crimson Letters: What started as a volunteer journaling class in late 2013 would grow into genuine, sincere, and heartfelt friendships with several men on North Carolina’s Death Row. Tessie Castillo’s collaborative work, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row, gives readers stark insight into the utter agony and dehumanization of long-term incarceration, as well as stories of friendship, family, and finding life after a death sentence.
Get your copy of Tessie’s Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row at Scuppernong Books.

TESSIE CASTILLO is a freelance journalist based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She specializes in criminal justice , drug policy, and harm reduction. In 2014 she became one of the first members of the public invited inside North Carolina’s Death Row. This extraordinary opportunity, as well as the correspondence she developed with several death row residents, helped launch her passion for criminal justice reform. Crimson Letters: Voice from Death Row is her first book.

ROBERT A. BROWN is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at North Carolina Central University. Prior to earning his doctorate, he worked as a sentencing mitigation specialist for the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA) coordinating offender-specific rehabilitation and supervision plans for offenders at the state and federal levels. Dr. Brown’s research focuses on street-level interactions between police officers and citizens (e.g., citation, arrest, use of force), the influence of race and gender (of officials and offenders) on criminal justice processing, and the impact of intermediate sanctions and problem-solving courts on rehabilitation and criminal justice processing.

GEORGE WILKERSON is an award-winning writer, artist, and poet currently incarcerated on North Carolina’s Death Row. In 2018 he was a PEN award for his essay LimpGreyFur, was a finalist for the Cathy Smith Bowers chapbook contest, and won a Gold Award in the “Capitalizing on Justice” Art Competition. In addition to being the editor for Compassion, a newsletter for people on Death Row, his work has appeared on multiple philanthropic platforms and exhibitions, including Hidden Voices, The Upper Room, The Marshall Project, Windows on Death Row, the Correction Accountability Project, and LifeLines Collective. In 2019 he was a finalist for an Ellie Award

Scuppernong Books YA Book Club (June)
2020-06-21 15:00 - 17:00
This month’s selection: I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
Zoom Event Link

Slave Narratives with James Shields and William Andrews
2020-06-19 19:00 - 20:00
A special peformance by James Shields as Frederick Douglass, followed by a conversation with William Andrews, author Slavery and Class in the American South: A Generation of Slave Narrative Testimony 1840-1865. Get your copy of at Scuppernong Books!
How to Watch
Meeting ID: 869 0798 5143
Password: [REDACTED]
JAMES SHIELDS is the Director of the Bonner Center for Community Service and Learning at Guilford College, where he earned his undergraduate degree in History and African American studies. His interest in the Underground Railroad dates back to his days as a student of noted Guilford professor Dr. Adrienne Israel. For over 15 years he has given numerous presentations on the Underground Railroad to local schools and civic groups. James also serves as one of the lead guides for Underground Railroad tours conducted on the Guilford College campus. He is well known for his work as an actor and director in the drama produced by Snow Camp Outdoor theatre, Pathway to Freedom which depicts the local history of the Underground Railroad. His latest project is a one man show depicting the life of Frederick Douglass.
WILLIAM L. ANDREWS is E. Maynard Adams Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also served as Chair of the Department of English and later Dean of Fine Arts and Humanities. His most recent book is Slavery and Class in the American South: A Generation of Slave Narrative Testimony, 1840-1865 (Oxford University Press, 2019). A co-editor of the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Bill Andrews has authored or edited more than 45 books on a wide range of African American literature and culture. In 2018 the American Literature Society of the Modern Language Association conferred on Bill the Jay B. Hubbell Medal for lifetime achievement in the study of American Literature.

Crimson Letters: Voice from Death Row, Tessie Castillo with special guest Dr. Frank Baumgartner and co-author Terry Robinson
2020-06-16 16:00 - 18:00
Join us in a critical four-part conversation on criminal justice and death penalty reform, racial and socio-economic inequality, and quite simply, the human dignity that each of us deserves.
Each of Tessie’s four co-authors and a special guest will join us for a live call-in four successive events.
How to Watch
Visit zoom.us
Meeting ID: 858 3167 8194
Password: [REDACTED]

JUNE 16
Topic: Should Police Who Kill Unarmed Civilians Get the Death Penalty?
Discussion: In the aftermath of the murders of Ahmaud Aubrey and George Floyd at the hands of police and armed vigilantes, some people (including the victims’ families) have called for the death penalty. Is this justice? We will discuss how the capital punishment system actually works (which is very different than how most people think it works), explaining the flaws and brokenness within the death penalty system that make it an unjust system of punishment, regardless of who is on the receiving end of the sentence.
Special Guest: Dr. Frank Baumgartner, Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at UNC Chapel Hill and Author of Deadly Justice: A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty + co-author Terry Robinson

About Crimson Letters: What started as a volunteer journaling class in late 2013 would grow into genuine, sincere, and heartfelt friendships with several men on North Carolina’s Death Row. Tessie Castillo’s collaborative work, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row, gives readers stark insight into the utter agony and dehumanization of long-term incarceration, as well as stories of friendship, family, and finding life after a death sentence.
Get your copy of Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row along, with Dr. Baumgartner’s Deadly Justice: A Statistical Portrait of the Death Penalty, at Scuppernong Books.

TESSIE CASTILLO is a freelance journalist based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She specializes in criminal justice , drug policy, and harm reduction. In 2014 she became one of the first members of the public invited inside North Carolina’s Death Row. This extraordinary opportunity, as well as the correspondence she developed with several death row residents, helped launch her passion for criminal justice reform. Crimson Letters: Voice from Death Row is her first book.

Dr. FRANK BAUMGARTNER is known for his work on lobbying, policymaking, agenda-setting, and racial dynamics in the criminal justice system. He has published scores of articles in the major political science journals, and had held various offices in numerous political science associations. He regularly teaches classes at all levels ranging from large lectures to small graduate and undergraduate seminars and contributes to UNC in various service capacities, with a particular focus on faculty diversity.

TERRY ROBINSON, also known as Chanton, is incarcerated on North Carolina’s Death Row. He is a proponent for social justice and a voice against recidivism. Chanton has a passion for learning and is dedicated to reform. He participated Toast Masters, Psychology, Drama, and other classes to improve his social skills. When not writing stories to challenge the stereotype of people on Death Row, Chanton unwinds in the pages of fantasy books or hosts Dungeons and Dragons roll-playing games. He is currently working on an urban fantasy novel and his memoir.
His writing can be found on the blog Walk In Those Shoes.

Crimson Letters: Voice from Death Row, Tessie Castillo with special guest Sister Helen Prejean, and co-author Lyle May
2020-06-11 16:00 - 18:00
Join us in a critical four-part conversation on criminal justice and death penalty reform, racial and socio-economic inequality, and quite simply, the human dignity that each of us deserves.
Each of Tessie’s four co-authors and a special guest will join us for a live call-in four successive events.
How to Watch
Visit zoom.us
Meeting ID: 854 7826 3169
Password: [REDACTED]

JUNE 11
Topic: Why is it so hard to hold criminal justice actors accountable?
Discussion: It seems like criminal justice actors (law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges) often aren’t held to the same standards of accountability as ordinary citizens. Are they really operating on different rules? In this discussion we will explain how some policies and loopholes in the criminal justice system protect its actors from being held to the same standards of justice that they implement. We will also discuss what ordinary citizens can do to fight back against these protections and increase accountability within the criminal justice system.
Special Guest: Sister Helen Prejean, longtime advocate for death penalty and criminal justice form, and champion and friend of death row inmates + co-author Lyle May

About Crimson Letters: What started as a volunteer journaling class in late 2013 would grow into genuine, sincere, and heartfelt friendships with several men on North Carolina’s Death Row. Tessie Castillo’s collaborative work, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row, gives readers stark insight into the utter agony and dehumanization of long-term incarceration, as well as stories of friendship, family, and finding life after a death sentence.
Get your copy of Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row, along with Sister Helen’s memoir River of Fire, and Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, at Scuppernong Books.

TESSIE CASTILLO is a freelance journalist based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She specializes in criminal justice , drug policy, and harm reduction. In 2014 she became one of the first members of the public invited inside North Carolina’s Death Row. This extraordinary opportunity, as well as the correspondence she developed with several death row residents, helped launch her passion for criminal justice reform. Crimson Letters: Voice from Death Row is her first book.

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN is known around the world for her tireless work against the death penalty. She has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on capital punishment and in shaping the Catholic Church’s vigorous opposition to all executions. After witnessing the executions of Patrick Sonni,er and Robert Lee Willie, Sister Helen realized that this lethal ritual would remain unchallenged unless its secrecy was stripped away, and so she sat down and wrote a book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. Dead Man Walking hit the shelves when national support for the death penalty was over 80% and, in Sister Helen’s native Louisiana, closer to 90%. The book ignited a national debate on capital punishment and it inspired an Academy Award winning movie, a play and an opera. Sister Helen also embarked on a speaking tour that continues to this day. Sister Helen works with people of all faiths and those who follow no established faith, but her voice has had a special resonance with her fellow Catholics. Sister Helen continues her work, dividing her time between educating the public, campaigning against the death penalty, counseling individual death row prisoners, and working with murder victims’ family members. Sister Helen’s second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, was published in 2004; and her third book, River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey, in 2019.

LYLE MAY is a prisoner on North Carolina’s Death Row who is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Specialized Studies degree through Ohio University. He has been published in Scalawag Magazine, J Journal, The Marshall Project, Copper Nickle, and PrisonWriters.com. When he is not studying or pursuing criminal justice reform, Lyle is challenging the narrative about people on Death Row. To view more of his writing go to: www.beyondsteeldoors.com Check out his memoir, Waiting for the Last Train.

Melanie Conklin, YA author of Every Missing Piece, Book Release E-Party “at” Scuppernong Books
2020-05-26 19:00 - 21:00
Join Greensboro Bound author Melanie Conklin for our Zoom release party for her newest novel “Every Missing Piece.”
“Maddy Gaines sees danger everywhere she looks: at the bus stop, around the roller rink, in the woods, and (especially) by the ocean. When Maddy meets a mysterious boy setting booby traps in the North Carolina woods, she suspects the worst. Maddy is certain she’s found Billy Holcomb–the boy who went missing in the fall. Except, maybe it’s not him. It’s been six months since he disappeared. And who will believe her anyway? Definitely not her mom or her stepdad . . . or the chief of police. As Maddy tries to uncover the truth about Billy Holcomb, ghosts from her own past surface, her best friend starts to slip away, and Maddy’s world tilts once again. Can she put the pieces of her life back together, even if some of them are lost forever?”
Set in Summerfield, NC, this is the perfect middle grade summer read. Great event for parents and middle schoolers to kick off summer reading! We’ll see you there!
Facebook event link
HOW TO WATCH
ZOOM Meeting link

Guilford County Schools Poet Laureate Reading
2020-05-21 19:00 - 20:30
2020 marks the 17th year of a unique and remarkable community partnership within Guilford County Schools and supported by Greensboro Bound, Greensboro’s Literary Festival, in recognizing and encouraging the writing and appreciation of poetry by High School students. This year 13 schools participated in this county-wide poetry contest. Each school holds a local contest, and then submits finalists for selection of a Poet Laureate. The finalist submissions were judged and Poets Laureate selected by Dr. Wayne Johns, poet and professor at Greensboro College.
One of the most rewarding and valuable elements of The High School Poet Laureate Project is the connection it creates among young writers throughout the district. In a typical year, this would be done through workshops and readings scheduled to bring the participants together, but this is no typical year. In place of in person meetings, all laureates, finalists and interested writers have gathered in a Canvas course for introductions, writing prompts and planned virtual poetry readings.
2020 High School Poets Laureate:
Jada Stewart, Andrews High School
Imani Neal, Dudley High School
Cate Gwinnett, Greensboro Day School
Noah Houser, Grimsley High School
Isaac Brannon, Middle College at GTCC
Bles Cil, Northeast Guilford High School
Ana Santos, Northern Guilford High School
Gray, Northwest Guilford High School
Ashoy Wynter, Page High School
Martin Broadbelt, Ragsdale High School
Arshi Das, The STEM Early College and NC A&T
Christin Maxx Wright, Weaver Academy
Evie Lee, Western Guilford High School
HOW TO WATCH
To join, visit zoom.us >> join meeting
Meeting: 859 2234 7659
Password: [REDACTED]

A Conversation with Casey Cep
2020-05-16 19:00 - 20:00
Join us Saturday, May 16th at 7:00PM as we talk with Casey Cep, author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (Penguin Random House). Get yourself a copy in advance Scuppernong Books !
Furious Hours tells the jaw-dropping true-crime story of a small-town preacher accused of killing five of his family members for the insurance money, about the vigilante who shot him, and about the lawyer who defended them both. Having helped report on In Cold Blood with childhood friend Truman Capote, Harper Lee had a template for the story she wanted to tell—and being who she was, she saw in this almost tabloid-tale a parable about race and criminal justice. In the years after To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee tried to write this story, but it never came to fruition. Casey Cep picks up where Lee left off and shares with us an account of three very different American lives, including that of Harper Lee herself, and how they briefly but spectacularly intersected.
Casey Cep is a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her first book, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, was an instant New York Times bestseller, and is available in hardcover, as an e-book, and as an audiobook. A proud graduate of the Talbot County Public Schools, she has an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.Phil. from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she still lives with her family.
HOW TO WATCH
To join, visit zoom.us >> join meeting
Meeting: 863 1406 4508
Password: [REDACTED]

Lee Smith - A Life In Writing
2020-05-10 16:00 - 17:30
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Join North Carolina literary eminence Lee Smith Sunday, May 10 at 4:00PM as she talks about her writing life and her new novella, Blue Marlin (Blair). New York Times best-selling author Lee Smith brings her masterful storytelling magic to this jewel of a novella that follows Jenny, an adventurous 13-year-old, down to Key West for a patched-up family vacation following the discovery of her father’s affair.
Born in the small coal-mining town of Grundy, Virginia, LEE SMITH began writing stories at the age of nine and selling them for a nickel apiece. Since then, she has written seventeen works of fiction, including Fair and Tender Ladies, Oral History, and, most recently, Guests on Earth. She has received many awards, including the North Carolina Award for Literature and an Academy Award in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; her novel The Last Girls was a New York Times bestseller as well as winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. She lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with her husband, the writer Hal Crowther.
Zoom Meeting ID: 840-5360-9210
Password: [REDACTED]
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