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Event
215 Festival: Damien Echols, in conversation with Tara Murtha
In 1993, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.who have come to be known as the West Memphis Threewere arrested for the murders of three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas. The ensuing trial was marked by tampered evidence, false testimony, and public hysteria. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison; while eighteen-year-old Echols, deemed the "ringleader," was sentenced to death. Over the next two decades, the WM3 became known worldwide as a symbol of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, with thousands of supporters and many notable celebrities who called for a new trial. In a shocking turn of events, all three men were released in August 2011.
Now Echols shares his story in fullfrom abuse by prison guards and wardens, to portraits of fellow inmates and deplorable living conditions, to the incredible reserves of patience, spirituality, and perseverance that kept him alive and sane while incarcerated for nearly two decades.
In these pages, Echols reveals himself a brilliant writer, infusing his narrative with tragedy and irony in equal measure: he describes the terrors he experienced every day and his outrage toward the American justice system, and offers a firsthand account of living on Death Row in heartbreaking, agonizing detail. Life After Death is destined to be a riveting, explosive classic of prison literature.
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Tara Murtha is an award-winning journalist and senior writer at Philadelphia Weekly focused on social justice issues. In 2012 and 2011, Murtha was honored with the Distinguished Writer award by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. She teaches journalism at Temple University and is a 2012 Ochberg Fellow at the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University.
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Founded in Philadelphia in 2001, The 215 Festival is a literary arts festival celebrating the written, spoken and visualized word. The 215 Festival showcases the vibrant community of literary talent in Philadelphia, and highlights the continued relevance of letters in a growing range of mediums, from books and poetry to music, film, and blogs. To help contextualize our local scene, the 215 Festival also seeks to present national and international talent. Past events include author readings, book-themed dance parties, literature-informed musical events, book fairs, literary film screenings, and blogger panel discussions. Over the years, the 215 Fest has played host to some of today's most interesting writers, including Jonathan Lethem, Neal Pollack, Ben Greenman, Matt Klam, Amy Fusselman, John Hodgman, Legs McNeil, George Saunders, Sarah Vowell, Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Eugenides and Patti Smith among many, many others.
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LocationUnderground Arts (View)
1200 Callowhill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19108
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 18 |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
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