My name is Hazel R. MacLendon, Ed.D., and I am a fan of your book pages; you are quite erudite.
I live in Starke, Florida, a town best known until recently as the home of “Old Sparky,” Florida’s electric chair, now thankfully enjoying its retirement as much as I am. Old Sparky once resided, as did the author of this remarkable play, at the Florida State Prison in Starke.
For many years I taught creative writing workshops at the prison. Despite having committed some heinous crimes (I never asked; I could only imagine), the men in my workshop nevertheless showed the capacity for eloquence and an appreciation, once nurtured, for beautiful writing of all kinds.
My workshop students produced some remarkable works of literature, some of which I have always wanted to share with the general public and literature lovers in particular. Now, through the miracle on Print-On-Demand publishing, I am able to do so.
Those of us who are old enough can remember when volumes of memoirs by Watergate felons and the disgraced President Nixon flooded the bookstores of this country. There was a slogan then, one I heartily subscribed to: DON’T BUY BOOKS BY CROOKS.
I wanted, in my new role as publisher, to bring to the public’s attention works by men, now released and having served their debt to society, so in a light-hearted way I hope none will be offended by, I am calling my press BOOKS BY FORMER CROOKS.
The author of our first book, ANUS: A PLAY IN FIVE ACTS, Chris Ray Dragon, and the other authors in this projected series of books, do not object to the name of his publisher. Now working in an Indian restaurant in the Miami suburb of Opa Locka and enjoying a wonderful life with a new wife and children (triplets!), Chris wrote this amazing play – an imaginative reworking of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus – as a student in my workshop back in the days when he was in “the joint.”
Some may be shocked by the violence and foul language of this play, but Chris – like most of the men I worked with – were horribly abused as children and saw many acts of random and senseless violence, not all of them on television, which I’m sure contributed to their straying from society’s norms – just as do the characters in ANUS.
High school English teachers almost never choose Coriolanus for their syllabi because the play is so difficult, but I am hoping that course adoption of ANUS in the high school and college curriculum will not only provide Books by Former Crooks with a stream of revenue to continue our efforts (all profits will go toward rehabilitation efforts, badly underfunded by Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature) but which will bring a new audience to one of the Bard’s most neglected masterpieces.
It is my hope that some of our more daring and unconventional regional theatre companies will put productions of ANUS on their schedules, remembering of course to pay royalties to the publisher and author. I’m sure ANUS will delight audience members of all ages and backgrounds.
You can find out more about the book at our webpage.
Thank you so much for all your help and assistance in bringing this worthy project's attention to the residents of the City of Brotherly Love. I know that many of them will want to help these literature-loving men live worthwhile, nonviolent lives.
My name is Hazel R. MacLendon, Ed.D., and I am a fan of your book pages; you are quite erudite.
ReplyDeleteI live in Starke, Florida, a town best known until recently as the home of “Old Sparky,” Florida’s electric chair, now thankfully enjoying its retirement as much as I am. Old Sparky once resided, as did the author of this remarkable play, at the Florida State Prison in Starke.
For many years I taught creative writing workshops at the prison. Despite having committed some heinous crimes (I never asked; I could only imagine), the men in my workshop nevertheless showed the capacity for eloquence and an appreciation, once nurtured, for beautiful writing of all kinds.
My workshop students produced some remarkable works of literature, some of which I have always wanted to share with the general public and literature lovers in particular. Now, through the miracle on Print-On-Demand publishing, I am able to do so.
Those of us who are old enough can remember when volumes of memoirs by Watergate felons and the disgraced President Nixon flooded the bookstores of this country. There was a slogan then, one I heartily subscribed to: DON’T BUY BOOKS BY CROOKS.
I wanted, in my new role as publisher, to bring to the public’s attention works by men, now released and having served their debt to society, so in a light-hearted way I hope none will be offended by, I am calling my press BOOKS BY FORMER CROOKS.
The author of our first book, ANUS: A PLAY IN FIVE ACTS, Chris Ray Dragon, and the other authors in this projected series of books, do not object to the name of his publisher. Now working in an Indian restaurant in the Miami suburb of Opa Locka and enjoying a wonderful life with a new wife and children (triplets!), Chris wrote this amazing play – an imaginative reworking of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus – as a student in my workshop back in the days when he was in “the joint.”
Some may be shocked by the violence and foul language of this play, but Chris – like most of the men I worked with – were horribly abused as children and saw many acts of random and senseless violence, not all of them on television, which I’m sure contributed to their straying from society’s norms – just as do the characters in ANUS.
High school English teachers almost never choose Coriolanus for their syllabi because the play is so difficult, but I am hoping that course adoption of ANUS in the high school and college curriculum will not only provide Books by Former Crooks with a stream of revenue to continue our efforts (all profits will go toward rehabilitation efforts, badly underfunded by Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature) but which will bring a new audience to one of the Bard’s most neglected masterpieces.
It is my hope that some of our more daring and unconventional regional theatre companies will put productions of ANUS on their schedules, remembering of course to pay royalties to the publisher and author. I’m sure ANUS will delight audience members of all ages and backgrounds.
You can find out more about the book at our webpage.
Thank you so much for all your help and assistance in bringing this worthy project's attention to the residents of the City of Brotherly Love. I know that many of them will want to help these literature-loving men live worthwhile, nonviolent lives.
Respectfully,
Hazel R. MacLendon, Ed.D.
very good saide
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