Audiobooks Narrated by Liza Jessie Peterson

VOICES: a sacred sisterscape: An Audioplay Presented by V-Day, Directed by aja monet, Composed by Le

"VOICES: a sacred sisterscape, spearheaded by Grammy-nominated poet aja monet (When The Poems Do What They Do), is an audio experience of stories written by, narrated by, and centering Black women across the diaspora. It encourages radical listening for the sake of connection, compassion, and community and celebrates the interior lives Black women embody. “We seek to encourage and establish a culture that fosters radical truth-telling love & solidarity,” —aja monet, Artistic Creative Director, Voices at V-Day. Presented by V-Day, a global activist movement to end violence against all women, gender expansive people, girls, and the Earth, VOICES is an interdisciplinary performance art project and campaign grounded in Black women’s stories brought to life. Founded by the Tony Award–winning playwright of The Vagina Monologues, V (formerly Eve Ensler), V-Day has unleashed vast grassroots, anti-violence work on college campuses and in communities—visionary work that has been survivor-led and focused, all the while revealing the power of art and activism to change culture and systems. V-Day campaigns include One Billion Rising, City of Joy, the Beyond Incarceration Project, Dismantle Patriarchy Contest, and now VOICES. Presented by: V-DayDirected by: aja monetComposed by: Leahann “Lafemmebear” MitchellProduced by: Hollis Heath Authors: Bella Laia, Black Girls Glow ft. Anabel Rose, KiKie, Ms. Fu, Nana Adjoa Agyepong, Pamm Takyiwaa, Poetra Asantewa & Wendy, Ceclia Faussart, Chamari White-Mink, Chelsea Williams, Cynthia Manick, Dalychia Saah, Dorothy Randall Gray, Flavia Diniz, Frieda Ndeutala Mukufa, Itohan Omolere Osaigbovo, Jasmine Knowles, Renee Wilson, Roslyn Smith, S. Pearl Sharp, Toya Lillard, Ursula Nyaboke Gisemba, and Vanessa Appiagyei, Vangile Gantsho Performed by: Black Girls Glow ft. Anabel Rose, KiKie, Ms. Fu, Nana Adjoa Agyepong, Pamm Takyiwaa, Poetra Asantewa & Wendy, Bisserat Tseggai, Carolyn Harrison, Cecila Faussart, Denise Burse, Flavia Diniz, Liza Jessie Peterson, Liz Mikel, Mars Rucker, Mumbi Kaigwa, Nila, Nyla Watson, Rutina Wesley, Roslyn Smith, Staceyann Chin, Stephanie Berry, Tyshawna Maddox, Vangile Gantsho, and Zonya Love Johnson"

Bella Laia, Black Girls Glow ft. Anabel Rose, Ceclia Faussart, Chamari White-Mink, Chelsea Williams, Cynthia Manick, Dalychia Saah, Dorothy Randall Gray, Flavia Diniz, Frieda Ndeutala Mukufa, Itohan Omolere Osaigbovo, Jasmine Knowles, Ms. Fu, Nana Adjoa Agyepong, Pamm Takyiwaa, Poetra Asantewa & Wendy, Renee Wilson, Roslyn Smith, S. Pearl Sharp, Toya Lillard, Ursula Nyaboke Gisemba, Vanessa Appiagyei, Vangile Gantsho, aja monet (Author), Bisserat Tseggai, Carolyn Harrison, Denise Burse, Liz Mikel, Liza Jessie Peterson, Mars Rucker, Mumbi Kaigwa, Nyla Watson, Rutina Wesley, Staceyann Chin, Stephanie Berry, Tyshawna Maddox, Zonya Love Johnson, a full cast (Narrator)

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All Day: A Year of Love and Survival Teaching Incarcerated Kids at Rikers Island

"ALL DAY is a behind-the-bars, personal glimpse into the issue of mass incarceration via an unpredictable, insightful and ultimately hopeful reflection on teaching teens while they await sentencing. Told with equal parts raw honesty and unbridled compassion, ALL DAY recounts a year in Liza Jessie Peterson's classroom at Island Academy, the high school for inmates detained at New York City's Rikers Island. A poet and actress who had done occasional workshops at the correctional facility, Peterson was ill-prepared for a full-time stint teaching in the GED program for the incarcerated youths. For the first time faced with full days teaching the rambunctious, hyper, and fragile adolescent inmates, 'Ms. P' comes to understand the essence of her predominantly Black and Latino students as she attempts not only to educate them, but to instill them with a sense of self-worth long stripped from their lives. 'I have quite a spirited group of drama kings, court jesters, flyboy gangsters, tricksters, and wannabe pimps all in my charge, all up in my face, to educate,' Peterson discovers. 'Corralling this motley crew of bad-news bears to do any lesson is like running boot camp for hyperactive gremlins. I have to be consistent, alert, firm, witty, fearless, and demanding, and most important, I have to have strong command of the subject I'm teaching.' Discipline is always a challenge, with the students spouting street-infused backtalk and often bouncing off the walls with pent-up testosterone. Peterson learns quickly that she must keep the upper hand-set the rules and enforce them with rigor, even when her sympathetic heart starts to waver. Despite their relentless bravura and antics-and in part because of it-Peterson becomes a fierce advocate for her students. She works to instill the young men, mostly black, with a sense of pride about their history and culture: from their African roots to Langston Hughes and Malcolm X. She encourages them to explore and express their true feelings by writing their own poems and essays. When the boys push her buttons (on an almost daily basis) she pushes back, demanding that they meet not only her expectations or the standards of the curriculum, but set expectations for themselves-something most of them have never before been asked to do. She witnesses some amazing successes as some of the boys come into their own under her tutelage. Peterson vividly captures the prison milieu and the exuberance of the kids who have been handed a raw deal by society and have become lost within the system. Her time in the classroom teaches her something, too-that these boys want to be rescued. They want normalcy and love and opportunity."

Liza Jessie Peterson (Author), Liza Jessie Peterson (Narrator)

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