I’m usually pretty cynical of end-of-year lists… that is, until one of my books is chosen 😉

Thrilled to see THE TRAGEDY OF TRUE CRIME by prison writer John J. Lennon in the @nytimes.com’s 100 Notable Books of 2025

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/b...

What we’re reading this week. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/01/the-tragedy-of-true-crime-splendid-liberators-the-land-in-winter-flop-era

Proud to see that two of our favorite author interviews each made the NYT Best Non-Fiction list this year!

Well-deserved congratulations to John J. Lennon (The Tragedy of True Crime, OA1210) and Professor Michelle Adams (The Containment, OA 1198)

In a new book, John J. Lennon presses two cases: that his is a work of legitimate journalism, and that his journalism makes him something more than a killer, Elizabeth Bruenig writes:

Have a piece today in TEEN VOGUE from my new book POLICE AGAINST THE MOVEMENT detailing how the NYPD, LAPD, cops in Chicago and Memphis surveilled the civil rights movement—and then destroyed millions of surveillance files in the ‘70s, including ones that may have shed like on MLK’s assassination.

here’s a great piece by @lisapeet.bsky.social about the unconventional book tour for John J. Lennon’s THE TRAGEDY OF TRUE CRIME. Over the past several years, John has showed me almost anything is possible from prison. Why not a book tour, then?
www.libraryjournal.com/story/a-book...

New pod, check your feeds! Brooke speaks with John J Lennon, an incarcerated journalist serving time at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, about his new book "The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us."

Riveting interview.
www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...

For @newrepublic.com, I wrote about John J. Lennon's THE TRAGEDY OF TRUE CRIME, which provides a challenging and bracing reckoning with guilt and the possibility of changing the narrative of one’s life: newrepublic.com/article/2010...

“It always jarred me to see joy like that in prison, as if part of our punishment was that we weren’t allowed to feel it.” Prison journalist John J. Lennon on exploitative entertainment and life in Sing Sing.

“Impressive … Lennon’s ambition is not to turn human suffering into spectacle, but to restore complexity to his own story and those of the men around him.“ @pamelacolloff.bsky.social’s sensitive and admiring review of THE TRAGEDY OF TRUE CRIME.

@vauhinivara.bsky.social talks to John J. Lennon about the sensationalism of true crime and the reality of being human in prison.

"If private companies are allowed to profit off us, then we should also be allowed to use the same tech to earn money consulting, freelancing, and doing real work." A new essay from John J. Lennon in @fastcompany.com.
Don't miss his virtual event with us on 10/8: www.harvard.com/event/john-j...

If you live in LA, Miami, Chicago, DC or Boston, you know what you should do? You should go hear John J. Lennon talk about his extraordinary new book The Tragedy of True Crime. (Stay tuned for events in New York, too.)

"A nuanced biography... and a scathing criticism of the media ecosystem that launders tragedy into entertainment."

THE TRAGEDY OF TRUE CRIME is a @nytimes.com pick for Fall nonfiction
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/b...

dude tried to tell me I was making the worst career mistake of my life when I left HUP for an agency (“where publicists go to die”) & implied I should be so lucky to work at Harvard lol very convincing argument my man (I left & took the $30K salary increase)
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

“I wanted to become a writer, an artist, something more than this guy who was reckless and killed someone. Literature was a good place to start.”

An excellent essay by incarcerated writer Robert Lee Williams in LitHub
lithub.com/good-writing...

“How many times will we try to overcome a force as vast as the sea?”

Read an excerpt from Rosanna Xia's CALIFORNIA AGAINST THE SEA in @latimes.com

this is bad