Join award-winning journalist Sylvia A. Harvey and New York Times bestselling author Shaka Senghor for an important and timely conversation about mass incarceration as it relates to their respective books, The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family and Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American. DC's Mahogany Books is the official bookseller for this event.

In Sylvia’s book she offers a searing exposé on the effects of the mass incarceration crisis on families — including the 2.7 million American children who have a parent locked up, while Shaka offers an inspiring, and unforgettable memoir of redemption and second chances amidst America's mass incarceration epidemic. This conversation will not only explore their books and personal experiences with the system, they will also discuss the censorship of these types of works in prisons—the very places where these stories could offer impact, the reality of parenting from behind bars, and how they are both working to write us all closer to justice.

Sylvia A. Harvey reports at the intersection of race, incarceration, gender, and policy. Her own father was incarcerated while she was growing up, and her story—and personal investment in this issue—not only frames her book, but the substance of her overall work.

Her reporting has appeared in Vox, ELLE, Colorlines, the Feminist Wire, the New York Post, The Appeal and her 2015 cover story with The Nation served as the inspiration for her book. She is the recipient of a National Headliner Award and a National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Salute to Excellence award. The Oakland native holds a BA in sociology from Columbia University and a MS in journalism from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Harvey lives in New York City.

Shaka Senghor is the President of Shaka Senghor, Inc. His memoir, Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death and Redemption in an American Prison, debuted on The New York Times and The Washington Post Best Seller Lists. Shaka is a former MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow and a former Fellow in the inaugural class of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Leadership Network. His 2014 TED Talk was featured in their “Year in Ideas” roundup and has over 1.6 million views.

Shaka is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2012 Black Male Engagement (BMe) Leadership Award, the 2015 Manchester University Innovator of the Year Award, the 2016 FORD Man of Courage Award, and the 2016 NAACP Great Expectations Award. He was recently recognized by OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network) as a “Soul Igniter” in the inaugural class of the SuperSoul 100. He has taught at the University of Michigan and shares his story of redemption around the world.

Mahogany Books is an award-winning bookstore based in Washington DC where they focus on books written for, by, and about people of the African Diaspora. Visit them at mahoganybooks.com.

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In Conversation: Sylvia A. Harvey & Shaka Senghor