Jean Trounstine, author of Motherlove
When:
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024 7:00p -
8:00p
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024 7:00p -
8:00p
Where:
Porter Square Books
25 White St.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140
Admission:
FREE
Hosted by:
Categories:
Event website:
https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/jean-trounstine-author-motherlove
Porter Square Books is delighted to welcome Jean Trounstine for the release of her first work of fiction Motherlove! A few community members whose lives have been touched by prison will join Trounstine. This event will take place on Thursday, March 28 at 7pm at Porter Square Books (25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140).
Copies of Motherlove will be offered for free to attendees by Concord Free Press with a suggested charitable donation. Trounstine's additional books will be available for sale.
RSVP here to let us know you're coming and to receive event updates!
“How brilliantly, and how heartbreakingly, Trounstine makes real the articles we read too often in our local newspapers. Her stories capture, in ways I’ve never seen before, the passionate and profound truth; every murder involves the loss of two lives. As soon as you open Motherlove, you’ll know that nothing is more important than to keep reading.”
–Margo Livesey, author of The Road from Belhaven
“Jean Trounstine is the rare artist who is equal parts activist, and her new book Motherlove is as heartbreaking as it is empowering! This is essential reading for anyone who has ever imagined what it might be like to have a child charged with homicide, not to mention a book for anyone who has been frustrated by the criminal justice system. Trounstine offers ten meticulously-drawn portraits that are testaments to true empathy, an empathy only richer for its complications. It's astounding that this is her first fiction, but we're so lucky that she has applied decades of indispensable advocacy to this too-often-ignored subject. Unforgettable in every way."
–Porochista Khakpour, author of Brown Album: Essay on Exile & Identity
Motherlove is the powerful short-story collection from Jean Trounstine, an acclaimed writer and social-justice activist with a deep knowledge of the US prison system—and its devastating impact on our communities in Massachusetts and beyond. In Motherlove , she turns her sharp eye on an often-forgotten group—the mothers of children who kill.
With deft writing and deep empathy, Trounstine explores the stories of ten mothers, each struggling with the aftermath of murder. While fictional, Trounstine’s characters are drawn from her more than thirty years of experience with prisoners and their families, making her stories all the more real and resonant.
Jean Trounstine is an author, activist, and educator who has written extensively about the criminal legal system in America. She worked at Framingham Women’s Prison for a decade, where she directed eight plays for prisoners—resulting in her highly praised book, Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison. Her groundbreaking work is considered the first Shakespeare program launched in the U.S.
Trounstine has spoken throughout the world about women in prison, and co-founded the women’s branch of Changing Lives Through Literature (CLTL), an innovative alternative sentencing program. In 2018, she was invited to Italy and awarded the Gramsci International Award for Theatre in Prison for her 30 years of work in literature and theater.
Motherlove is the first fiction work from Trounstine, author of six other books—from poetry to nonfiction—including Boy with a Knife: A Story of Murder, Remorse, and a Prisoner’s Fight for Justice.
