Alison Flowers
A Room of One's Own 2717 Atwood Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53704
press release:
A Room of One's Own welcomes Chicago author and journalist Alison Flowers for a reading from her important new work, The Exoneree Diaries: The Fight for Innocence, Independence, and Identity!
News stories continue to emerge about people who spent years or decades in prison only to be proven innocent -- but what happens when the wrongfully convicted are set free, empty-handed into the unknown? Release from prison, though sometimes joyous and hopeful, is not a Hollywood ending-or an ending at all. Rather, an exoneree's first unshackled steps are the beginning of a new journey full of turmoil and uncertainty.
The Exoneree Diaries speaking tour will feature discussions with award-winning investigative journalist Alison Flowers, celebrating the release of Exoneree Diaries: The Fight for Innocence, Independence, and Identity. Through intimate portraits of four exonerated prisoners, investigative journalist Alison Flowers boldly gives a name to those who do not have one, as the word "exoneree" does not exist in the English dictionary. Forgotten and erased from society, exonerees leave prison without any compensation and try to rebuild their shattered lives without any aftercare. Flowers also sheds new light on the collateral damage of wrongful convictions on families and communities, challenging deeper problems of mass incarceration and the criminal justice system.
Alison Flowers is an award-winning investigative journalist who focuses on social and criminal justice. Her yearlong multimedia series about exonerees for Chicago Public Media and NPR affiliate WBEZ was a finalist for a national Online Journalism Award in 2014. A former TV reporter, Flowers has also written for the The Guardian, Village Voice, VICE News, and others. She is a Social Justice News Nexus fellow and works at the Invisible Institute, a journalism production company on the South Side of Chicago, where she was part of a team win of a Hillman Foundation Award.