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In the News

Visit this page to see when APBP is featured in the news.

2022: WVU Today

West Virginia University (WVU) and APBP were recognized as part of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Awards.

2022: 1455

In an essay about volunteering with APBP, Destinee Harper writes about reading letters from people in prison requesting books while grappling with the realities of her brother’s prison sentence.

2022: The Real News Network

APBP was mentioned as one group doing the work of sending books into prisons in an interview with Alex Skopic about the trend of banning books in prisons.

2021: Protean

Alex Skopic tackled the topic of how the US prison system is waging a war on reading and stressed that nonprofit groups like APBP are not part of the problem but instead part of the solution.

2021: Oklahoma Watch

In an article about tablets and video calls in Oklahoma prisons, digital communications coordinator Lydia Welker spoke about the costs of free tablets in West Virginia prisons.

2020: WBOY 12 News

Charlie Walker, a high school student at University High School in Morgantown, WV, collected 500+ books for APBP over the course of several months because, as he says, “education should be a basic human right.”

2020: WBOY 12 News

APBP board member Judy Panagakos was quoted by WBOY 12 News. In the article, she spoke about how WVU MLK Day of Service participants volunteered with APBP.

2020: The Daily Athenaeum

APBP’s partnership with WVU to provide Inside-Out courses to incarcerated students was featured in The DA. Katy Ryan spoke about this opportunity, calling it “a matter of equity.”

2020: WV News

Read about how APBP is paying the tuition for 15 incarcerated students to take a West Virginia University sociology course in WV News.

2019/2020: GTL/WVDCR Tablet Coverage

On November 20, 2019, APBP published a piece on a contract between the West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) and Global Tel Link (GTL) to charge incarcerated people by the minute to read free books on electronic tablets.

The story quickly gained traction and was picked up by several news sites:

2019: Restorative Radio

APBP’s media relations coordinator Gabriella Pishotti spoke about APBP on Episode 7 of the Restorative Radio project. Her interview begins at 23:15.

2019: The Words

Dalton Green, student at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN, wrote about his experience volunteering for APBP in The Words, Macalaester’s English student newsletter: “Challenging Mass Incarceration with the Power of a Good Book.”

2019: WBOY 12 News

APBP’s media relations coordinator Gabriella Pishotti was interviewed by WBOY 12 News. In the interview, she spoke about how APBP works as well as how the community can support our project.

2018: BuzzFeed News

APBP was recently featured in BuzzFeed News! Read the article, This Appalachian Nonprofit Puts Books in the Hands of Inmates Who Need Them, to learn about how we got started, what we do, and how we do it.

2017: Eberly Magazine Studies Education Behind Bars

Eberly Magazine‘s “A Voice for Those on the Other Side of the Wall” features APBP and the Inside-Out program.

2015: Focus

The March/April issue of Focus included an article about Katy Ryan, APBP’s founder, called “Reading Between the Bars: A WVU professor takes on social injustice by sending books to prisoners.”

2015: WV Living Magazine

WV Living Magazine wrote a short feature about Katy Ryan and APBP: “This Matters to Katy Ryan.”

2014: Feature on Past Board Member Mike Buso

Read about Mike Buso’s wonderful contributions to APBP and his graduate research in Eberly Magazine‘s “Redefining the English Ph.D., One Passion Project at a Time.”

2014: The Daily Athenaeum

Katy Ryan, founder of APBP, was recognized in The Daily Athenaeum, West Virginia University’s student newspaper. Read more in the article, “WVU associate professor awarded for leadership with Prison Book Project.”

2012: The Daily Athenaeum

APBP was featured in The Daily Athenaeum twice in 2012. In August, the student newspaper published a profile of our organization: “University project gives books to inmates.” They also reviewed APBP’s successful 123 Pleasant Street benefit concert.

2011: The Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation gave APBP a shout-out on their website. Read the piece: “Help the Appalachian Prison Book Project.”

2011: The Daily Athenaeum

APBP was the subject of a piece in West Virginia University’s student newspaper. Read The Daily Athenaeum article, called “Book project to accept donations for prisoners.”

2011: The Dominion Post

APBP was featured in The Dominion Post. View a PDF of the article: “WVU prison project connects inmates with reading material.”

2011: WVU Journalism Blog Features APBP

Toni Cekada, a student in the West Virginia University Department of Journalism, wrote the an article called “Books through Bars” about the work we do at APBP.