Authors Behind BarsLike this list

12 items

• An Echo of Murder

  Perry, Anne,

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  Anne Perry was convicted of murder when she was 15.

• Shantaram

  Roberts, Gregory David

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  Gregory David Roberts was caught smuggling heroin in Frankfurt, was extradited to Australia and escaped prison in 1980. Two drafts of this novel were destroyed by prison wardens.

• March. Book One

  Lewis, John, 1940-2020,

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  Before he was a U.S. Representative, John Lewis was arrested at least 45 times, beginning in 1961 during the Civil Rights Movement and as recently in 2013 when he protested against immigration reform.

• Call of the Wild

  London, Jack, 1876-1916

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  Jack London spent a month in jail for vagrancy in 1893 when he was a teenager.

• Candide, Or, Optimism

  Voltaire, 1694-1778

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  In 1717, Voltaire spent time in the Bastille because an aristocrat was insulted by his satire.

• Cotton Comes to Harlem

  Himes, Chester B., 1909-1984

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  Chester Himes spent time in the Ohio State Penitentiary for armed robbery.

• The Journal, 1837-1861

  Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862

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  Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail in 1846 after he refused to pay his poll tax.

• Robinson Crusoe

  Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731,

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  Daniel Defoe was repeatedly sent to prison for his political writings and satires in 1713.

• Don Quixote

  Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de, 1547-1616,

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  Miguel de Cervantes spent five years in prison after being captured by the Turks in 1575.

• The Picture of Dorian Gray

  Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900

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  Oscar Wilde was sent to prison for indecency in 1895 as homosexuality was a criminal offense in England at the time.

• Crime and Punishment

  Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 1821-1881

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  In 1849, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was sentenced to death via firing squa after being arrested for subversive activities. After a last-minute reprieve, he spent four years in a Siberian labor camp.

• The Very Best of O. Henry

  Henry, O., 1862-1910

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  O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) spent five years in prison for embezzlement (and he was the prison's pharmacist!).