Photo by Raw Love Productions
Published Works
Zek: An American Prison Story
Zek is the story of Jonny: a man broken off and doing time in an eastern Washington state prison. Utlizing the literary structure of Aleksandr Solzenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Zek tells the story of a day in the life of a prisoner in the United States. It lays bare the brutality of a life spent behind bars. It is naked. It is ugly. And it is beautiful.
Completed in 2005, it is likely Arthur Longworth’s most widely read work, as it has been passed among prisoners and prison guards for over a decade. Zek is available now for the first time in print on the outside.
2021
- "Solitary." Social Research: An International Quarterly, Vol.88 No.3 (Fall 2021). (https://www.socres.org)
2020
- Contributing author for "What We Know: Solutions from Our Experiences in the Justice System." Edited by Vivian Nixon and Daryl Atkinson. New Press (2020), ISBN 978-1-62097-529-9. Arthur contributed "Wards of the State" to this volume.
- "How to Survive Supermax: Inside the Hell of Solitary Confinement." The New Republic, June 18th, 2020.
- "Diary of an Incarcerated Man During a Pandemic." Prison Journalism Project, April 20th, 2020.
- "Pandemic Journal." New York Review of Books, April 6, 2020. Arthur's piece is part of a running series of dispatches by New York Review writers from around the world documenting the coronavirus outbreak.
- "What Coronavirus Quarantine Looks Like in Prison." Published simultaneously by The Marshall Project and BuzzFeed News, March 18th, 2020.
2019
- "Christmas." Liar's League NYC (this piece was performed in New York City by actor Michael Petrocelli), October 2, 2019.
- “Why it's So Hard to Write in Prison.” Crosscut, April 23, 2019.
- “Buddha in the Prison Yard.” The Margins (a literary journal of the Asian American Writers' Workshop), April 3, 2019.
- "The Buddha in the Big Yard." Medium, January 16, 2019.
2018
- “Prison is No Place for Timmy.” Prison Writers, May 29, 2018.
- “How to Kill Someone.” The MOON Magazine, April 30, 2018.
2017
- “Prison is Killing My Prison Romance.” Published simultaneously by the Marshall Project and VICE News, May 25, 2017.
- “Timmy.” Minutes Before Six, July 27, 2017.
- “Prison in the Real-Life Example of the World White Supremacists Want.” (This article is a compilation of prison writers) The Marshall Project, August 24, 2017.
- “The Visit.” Minutes Before Six, November 16, 2017.
2016
- “What It’s Like to be Moved from Cell to Cell, Prison to Prison.” Published simultaneously by the Marshall Project and VICE News, January 29, 2016.
- ZEK: An American Prison Story, Galbafa Press (2016), ISBN 978-0-9970299-0-1, Nominated for the Washington State Book Award, Listed on “The Bookshelf” as one of the top criminal justice reads in the nation (www.themarshalproject.org).
- “Night.” DUENDE (Spring 2016 Issue) a literary journal published by Goddard College.
2015
- “Inmates Deserve Hope.” Real Change News, Vol. 22, No. 5, February 2, 2015.
- “Institutional Racism.” Prison Writers.
- “Raised, and Imprisoned, by the State.” The Marshall Project, May 26, 2015.
- “From Foster Homes to Prison.” VICE News, May 26, 2015.
2014
- “Walla Walla.” Tacenda – 2014, an annual literary journal published by BleakHouse Publishing.
- “Wheeled Fortress.” PEN America, A journal for Writers and Readers, issue #17, pp. 140-145.
- “The Hole.” Minutes Before Six, January 2, 2014.
- “Hiding Death: The No-So Public Misapplication of a Public Institution.” Minutes Before Six, April 17, 2014.
- “The Chain.” Minutes Before Six, August 14, 2014.
2013
- “Legitimizing Death: The Effect of the Anti-Death Penalty Campaign on Long-Term Sentencing.” Minutes Before Six, September 27, 2013.
2011
- “Problem Child.” YES! Magazine, Issue #58.
2009
- “The Prison Diary of Arthur Longworth #299180.” Pygmy Forest Press (2009), ISBN: 978-0944550-07-6.
- “The Prison Diaries of Arthur Longworth.” r.kv.r.y. Quarterly Literary Journal.
- “The Buddha Still Sits in the Big Yard.” Northwest Dharma News.
2008
- “Walla Walla Journal.” ICONOCLAST, a NY literary journal, issue #99 and #100.