Ear Hustle Brings Community Together

On February 6th, Books to Prisoners volunteers headed to Town Hall Seattle to support the Ear Hustle live show. Watching stories from incarcerated individuals come to life through audio, visuals, and powerful performances reminded us exactly why community events like this matter so much to our work.

Ear Hustle debuted in 2017 and was the first podcast ever created and produced from inside a prison. Co-founders Nigel Poor, Earlonne Woods, and Antwan Williams (with Earlonne and Antwan creating the show while incarcerated at San Quentin) built a platform that continues to tell stories about day-to-day life in prison. Ear Hustle is doing essential work to build empathy, understanding, and connection across the prison walls. We were honored to have a table at the event, where we connected with attendees before and after the show.  Our goal was to spread the word about our work, recruit new volunteers, and collect donations. We provided t-shirts and our Dear Books to Prisoners book, which features powerful letters received over the years, as thank you gifts.

The people who stopped by our table were so supportive, curious, and genuinely passionate about this work. What moved us most were two attendees who were previously incarcerated and wrote to us during that time. They told us how meaningful the books we sent them were. Hearing that direct impact in person and seeing it come full circle was a powerful reminder of why we do this. The energy in that room really emphasized that people want to engage with these issues. They want to support organizations that are working toward a more just system. While we're often focused on the immediate work of fulfilling book requests, events like this one inspire us to prioritize building community connections and pursuing more opportunities to engage with people who share our values. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table, we raised $1031.10 for our program! This will provide us with postage to mail about 182 packages of books to incarcerated people!

We want to extend our deepest gratitude to Nigel Poor, Earlonne Woods, and Antwan Williams for the groundbreaking work they do to amplify the voices of incarcerated people and push our society to see them as full human beings.

If you weren't there, we hope you'll listen to the Ear Hustle podcast. And if you were there and felt moved to join us, head to our “Get Involved” page to get started. 

Authored by Emily Mercer