This coming weekend, the Austin Inside Books Project will catch up on six months of back book requests from people in Texas prisons. They need help to accomplish this task.
When: May 15 to 16, beginning at 9:00 a.m.
Where: at IBP, located at the Rhizome Collective, 300 Allen St. (3 blocks east of E. 5th and Pleasant Valley).
- Come for one hour or stay for all two days!
- Food and beverages will be provided.
- Stuff you might want to bring with you (but not mandatory): a sleeping bag, treats, your favorite pen, books to donate (esp. soft cover English and Spanish dictionaries), music, stationery supplies (esp. stamps, sharpies, packing tape, and large manila envelopes).
- Monetary donations are also needed to help pay for postage to mail out all the book orders.
- Book donations can be dropped off to IBP at 12th Street Books (827 W. 12th St), or at Monkey Wrench Books (110 North Loop).
For more information call 512-647-4803 or email insidebooksproject@yahoo.com.
Thanks for posting this! I’d seen a flyer but wouldn’t have remembered without a reminder.
I spent a couple of hours there today and enjoyed myself thoroughly. It’s not tedious work at all — matching the prisoners’ requests to what’s available in the Inside Books library is more of a challenge than you’d expect.
I’m also inspired to start scrounging for cheap books at garage sales and thrift stores that match the prisoners’ needs. Inside Books has an excellent collection — there were a lot of books I wouldn’t have minded bringing home myself! — but they can’t keep up with the demand for dictionaries, thesauruses, Spanish-English dictionaries, and blank journals. Seems like they could also use more African-American fiction and non-fiction, and more puzzle and game books.
I may be going back tomorrow and bringing my girls. I don’t think they’re quite ready to select books, but I’m told the prisoners would appreciate some art in the envelope.