The Tragedy of True Crime is a first-person journalistic account of the lives of four men who have killed, written by a man who has killed. Lennon entered the New York prison system with a sentence of 28 years to life but after he stepped into a writing workshop at Attica Correctional Facility, his whole life changed. Reporting from the cell block and the prison yard, Lennon challenges our obsession with true crime by telling the full life stories of men now serving time for the lives they took. 

A first-of-its-kind book of immersive prison journalism, The Tragedy of True Crime poses fundamental questions about the stories we tell and who gets to tell them. What essential truth do we lose when we don’t consider all that comes before an act of unthinkable violence? And what happens to the convicted after the cell gate locks?

**We ask that all attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speaker and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase.**

Speakers:

John J. Lennon is the author of The Tragedy of True Crime. He serving his twenty-fourth year behind bars, currently in Sing Sing Correctional Facility. His writing regularly appears in the New York Review of Books, the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, and New York. His work has been anthologized in the Best American Magazine Writing, and he’s twice been a finalist for the National Magazine Award. His feature essay “The Apology Letter” was part of the Washington Post Magazine’s special issue that won the National Magazine Award. He will be eligible for parole in 2029.

Ben Austen is a journalist from Chicago. . He is the author of Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change, which was named one of the best books of 2023 by the Washington Post. His book High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Excellence in Nonfiction and named a best book of the year by Booklist, Mother Jones and the public libraries of Chicago and St. Louis. A former editor at Harper's Magazine, Ben is the co-host of the podcast Some of My Best Friends Are. His feature writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Wired and many other publications.