{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Local Edition","title":"Sing Sing Writer John J. Lennon Receives Historic Guggenheim Fellowship","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2141,"description":"John J. Lennon said he was stunned when he learned he had been named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow in General Nonfiction.\nThe acclaimed journalist and essayist is believed to be the first person in the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s 101-year history to receive the prestigious fellowship while currently incarcerated.Speaking with Radio Catskill from Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Lennon described the recognition as both humbling and difficult to fully process within the confines of prison.\n“You’re just kind of stunned,” Lennon said. “It’s just a totally humbling experience.”\nBut celebrating good news inside a prison, Lennon explained, is complicated.\n“You don’t burst out of your cell and say, ‘Guys, guess what?’” he said. “You kind of have to contain it.”Lennon said incarcerated people sometimes exercise restraint when sharing accomplishments because they do not know how the news will be received by those around them.\n“Prison is a tough place. It’s a tough environment,” he said. “The stakes are a little higher in here.”\nThe Guggenheim Fellowship will support a piece Lennon is writing for The New York Review of Books. The essay will explore the 200-year literary history of Sing Sing during the prison’s bicentennial year and is expected to be published this fall.\nLennon has written extensively about incarceration, criminal justice and daily life behind prison walls. His reporting and essays have appeared in national publications, offering readers a view of prisons that outside journalists rarely have access to.\nHe said incarcerated writers face obvious disadvantages, including limited technology, research materials and communication with editors. However, they also possess something most reporters cannot easily obtain: direct access to life inside a prison.\n“What we do have is something that most journalists would really like, at least temporarily,” Lennon said. “That’s the access to what’s around us.”\nThat access includes the sounds, conversations,...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/zAz8MMy-u3jzJ0mU3OHuzCiXMiYC5vKuioVOt2aciWc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS81ODIz/MGUzZGI1YTI2YWQ5/ZTQ4NTZmZWI0MmE5/NTE3Yi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}