Eemanna (she/her) is a Minneapolis born and based multidisciplinary artist and community organizer.  A singer song-writer and rapper spanning across genres of hip hop, alternative and soul, Eemanna is also a ceramicist and podcast producer. … 1/2

Adrien Wright (they/them) is a poet, performer, and costume designer who lives and works in Minneapolis. Their poems have appeared in the Midway Journal and Selfish Magazine, as well as on stages at the Midwest Poetry Mash-Up, the NorthBEAST Regional Poetry Slam, … 1/2

Willard Malebear Jr. (he/him) is an artist, community organizer, and creative wellness advocate based in Minneapolis. He is the founder and executive chairman of Art Shelf, a nonprofit that operates like a food shelf for art supplies, providing free creative materials, … 1/3

Antonio Duke (he/him) is a Twin Cities based actor and playwright. He is the program director of The Ifẹ̀ (Ee-fay) Lab which is a fellowship highlighting black solo performing artists. The fellowship combines film and live performances culminating… 1/6

Illinois - Women's Justice Institute marks 10 years of connecting women in downstate prisons with their families pantagraph.com/news/local/a...

mk zariel (it/its + masc terms) is a transmasculine neuroqueer theater artist, Best Of The Net and Monarch Award nominated poet, movement journalist, and BashBack aligned anarchist. it is fueled by folk-punk, Emma Goldman, and existential dread. … 1/3

The most revolutionary thing you can do these days is be kind.

"Conbody vs Everybody, a singular, sprawling portrait of redemption and hard-earned resilience in one of New York City’s most rapidly gentrified neighborhoods, told through the hub of one unlikely gym [started and staffed by formerly incarcerated people]." www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ap...

Please join us on Tuesday, June 2nd, at 7:00pm, at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: @mkzariel.bsky.social, Antonio Duke, Willard Malebear Jr., Adrien Wright, and Eemanna, followed by an open mic. More at reentrylab.org/better-things

The Stevie Wilson DIY Young Artists Residency will award $2,500 grants to 14 artists. Creative projects can take place between July to Dec, 2026. Applications are due by May 11. Help us to spread the word to young artists (ages 16-24) impacted by the criminal punishment system.

NEW: No murder weapon was ever produced, and no gunshot residue was found on his clothing. An ammunition box found at the murder scene contained a fingerprint that did not belong to him. Yet Temujin Kensu remains behind bars in Michigan. It’s been 40 years.

Sabrin Nur (they/them) is an artist based in Minneapolis since 2014, currently serving in their second year of AmeriCorps national service, coaching and mentoring high school students on their postsecondary plans. Nur’s artistic practice weaves through many mediums, and they have worked… 1/6

Armand McCoy (they/them), from Saint Paul, Minnesota, is a multidisciplinary artist whose passions intersect Holistic Healing, Black Liberation, and Environmental Justice. They have been studying healing modalities from all over the world, with a current focus on… 1/10

Andre Anderson (he/him) is a justice‑impacted educator, writer, and graduate student whose work explores belonging, reentry, and the power of narrative to reshape public understanding. He serves as a Graduate Assistant in Metro State University’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, … 1/6

Sana Wazwaz (she/her) is a Palestinian American writer and theater artist. Her work appears in Black Warrior Review, Water~Stone Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, The Ghassan Kanafani Anthology, Overtly Lit, and has been featured at the Colorado College Fine Arts Center’s Muslim Futurism exhibit…. 1/7

Jennifer Marysia Landretti (she/her) writes poetry and essays. Her themes are nature, place, and spirit—and in recent years, gender, which has served as a vector to explore the former three.  Over the years her work has appeared in various literary publications, most regularly Orion magazine…

Please join us on Tuesday, May 5th, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: Jennifer Landretti, Sana Wazwaz, Andre Anderson, Armand McCoy, and Sabrin Nur. Each featured artist will take five minutes to share work. After the main reading, … 1/5

Come join us *tonight* at Better Things - 7pm - @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social—we'd love to see you there! Featuring Sagirah Shahid, Suzanne Locke, Isavela Lopez, Ben Westlie, and Nick Metcalf. ASL interpretation; masks required at Moon Palace Books & available on-site. There Will Be Snacks 😁

Nick Metcalf (they/them) is Sicangu Oyate – Burnt Thigh People – Rosebud Sioux Tribe.  Nick has lived in the Twin Cities for 30 years where they’ve made a life filled with lots of friends, family, and community.  Nick is a proud Parent and Grandparent…. (1/6)

Ben Westlie (he/him) is the author of Run From Your Now, a Minnesota Book Award Finalist in Poetry 2025. His poetry has appeared in DASH, The Fourth River, MUSE, Superpresent, ArLiJo, Atlas and Alice and The Talking Stick. 1/6

I'm leading a Visual Poetry workshop at the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub (University of Minnesota) on Tuesday, April 21st, 6-8pm. It's FREE and open to anyone 18+; space is limited, so register here if you're interested: (the social preview picture makes me 😂... my friend Louise) tally.so/r/7RxPqa

Isavela Lopez (she/her) is a multidisciplinary Indigenous artist, storyteller, and activist of Zapotec heritage from Oaxaca, Mexico. Based in the Twin Cities, she brings together her gifts in spoken word, writing, dance, and film to illuminate issues of cultural resilience, climate justice,… 1/9

Suzanne Locke (she/her) is a writer, mother, grandmother, and a huge advocate for Raising Sisters, a support group for people previously incarcerated in the Shakopee facility. Originally from Bemidji, she now lives in Roseville, … 1/6

Sagirah Shahid (she/her) is a pushcart prize nominated Black Muslim poet and performance artist from Minneapolis, MN. Her poetry and prose have been published in Mizna, Winter Tangerine, Prose Online, KHÔRA, Puerto Del Sol, Juked, Paranoid Tree, Parhelion, … 1/6

Please join us on Tuesday, April 7th, at 7:00pm, at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: Sagirah Shahid, Suzanne Locke, Isavela Lopez, Ben Westlie, and Nick Metcalf. 1/5

Next Tues, our MFA student Zeke Caligiuri is co-hosting (with @davigray.com) this cool reading presented by @reentrylab.org @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social and Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop:

Raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota’s historic Rondo neighborhood, Lt. Sunnie (she/her) is a powerhouse in the Midwest music scene with over a decade of experience. She has headlined major events across the region, delivered charged up halftime show performances, completed a milestone 10-stop tour, 1/9

Lester Batiste (he/him) is a savage writer in living color who writes for political, social, economic change and Black futures. Born in Chicago, IL, he holds an MFA from the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast writing program, and an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania. 1/8

Cecily McMillan (all pronouns) is a social justice organizer, political consultant, and published author. After enduring a Kafkaesque trial following her arrest at Occupy Wall Street in 2012, she served 58 days at Rikers Island. Since their release, McMillan has become… 1/8

Ashembaga (Ashe) Jaafaru (ashe or she/her) is an actor + dancer + writer + producer + director who creates art for liberation of the mind, body and SPIRIT. As the founder of Little Creatures, she will continue to write + produce imaginative stories. Upcoming productions include… 1/5

Rosetta Peters (she/her) is a Dakota poet, an author, a public speaker, and an activist. A procrastinator to the point of detriment and lover of the natural world. 🎤 Please join us on Tuesday, March 3rd, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring 5 fantastic artists: 1/4

12th Annual Transformative Justice and Abolition Criminology Conference: February 13th, 2026. Panel of scholar-activists, artist-philosophers, poets, and abolitionists discussing a wide range of topics. Register: savethekidsgroup.org/feb-13-2026-... FB event page: www.facebook.com/share/1AM1cX...

My current PoeS.A project is "JustUs," a crowd-sourced poem on justice. My work is supported by a Camille Gage memorial fellowship. I loved and admired Camille and so this is a great honor. She always met moments of injustice with art-in-action. I'm humbled by her memory.

"The criminal legal system doesn't interrupt gender violence, but rather extends it, concentrates it, and hides it behind prison walls where it disappears from public view." -Kwaneta Harris, a former nurse, business owner, and expat, now an incarcerated journalist

Please join us on Tuesday, March 3rd, at 7:00pm, at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: Rosetta Peters, Ashe Jaafaru, Cecily McMillan, Lester Batiste, and Lt. Sunnie. Each featured artist will take five minutes to share work. 1/5

ICE is active in south Minneapolis today- Multiple cars cruising around East Phillips, Midtown Phillips. Meanwhile, signal is having issues, so folks should be outside! See ICE? Form a crowd and get loud. Let neighbors know if ICE is nearby by making noise.

Tonight (2/3/26) at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social: I know Isha and Heid are incredible, and am excited to hear more from the others too. The "Better Things" lineups are always so cool, pulling from many different corners of the Twin Cities literary landscape:

Isha Camara (she/her) is a Gambian-American poet and visual artist from South Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Masters at Randolph College in Creative Writing. Her work has been featured in MUZZLE Magazine, Poets.org and… 1/6

Author of nine books of poetry and prose Heid E. Erdrich (she/her) is a curator and teacher. Erdrich edited the anthology New Poets of Native Nations and co-edited the newly published Boundless: Abundance in Native American Art and Literature. She served as the inaugural Minneapolis Poet… 1/7

Jeffrey Dorr-Slowey (he/him) is a 46-year-old Indigenous father. He is the principal and owner of Amik Agabow Consulting, LLC, as well as a community organizer with TONE UP and an inaugural fellow with the Just Lead Fellowship. … 1/6

BakiBakiBaki (they/them) is an Afro-indigenous multidisciplinary artist who believes freedom lives at the crosscurrents of art and spirituality. Through zines/self publishing and puppetry BBB leads community workshops, … 1/6

Ari Tison (Bribri) (she/her) is an award-winning poet and the author of YA hybrid poetry & prose novel Saints of the Household (FSG/Macmillan), winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Amelia Walden Award, and a finalist for the William C. Morris Award. 1/6

Please join us on Tuesday, February 3rd, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: Ari Tison (Bribri), BakiBakiBaki, Jeffrey Dorr-Slowey, Heid E. Erdrich, and Isha Camara. Each featured artist will take five minutes to share work. … 1/5

Coming up Tuesday at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social: I'll be facilitating a short workshop on "narrative interventions," a space to think creatively about our stories, but ALSO the concrete projects that can propel those stories, that create space for them to “live” in the world. Plus an open mic!

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to support independent media, here is a comprehensive list of independent newsrooms. This thread features 72 publications – almost all of which are nonprofit or worker-owned – with various ways to support their reporting.

A powerful anthem about keeping the flame of hope and resistance alive, by Carsie Blanton, a musician and activist who took part in the recent aid flotilla to Gaza: #SkyFundathon2026 www.youtube.com/watch?v=azTu...

“The rate of deaths per year in the correctional facilities has been on the rise even though the number of people being held in the prisons has declined, the records show. Last year the death count hit 144 — the highest number in the past seven years.”

“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky We fail that test so badly.

A highlight from this 2025 recap thread; and for people interested in how words/art/culture can support movement work: Join us Jan 6 at @moonpalacebooks.bsky.social for a "narrative interventions lab" in collaboration with @reentrylab.bsky.social. More info: reentrylab.org/better-things