Local inmate takes second place in PEN American Center's Prison Writing Contest
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A Chatham University program to foster creative expression at the Allegheny County Jail has discovered a talented writer.
In March, inmate Lynne Schaffer-Agnew of Shadyside received second place in the fiction category of the PEN American Center's Prison Writing Contest for her short story "Sabrina," about an inmate who dies of heroin withdrawal.
Ms. Schaffer-Agnew, who was recently transferred to Cambridge Springs women's prison, is serving a nine-to-20-year sentence for aggravated assault and attempted homicide of her husband.
For eight weeks of her sentence at the Allegheny County Jail, she participated in a creative writing course led by students in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Chatham. [The program was covered in the PG last August; read "At Allegheny County Jail, Creative Writing Classes Release Pain, channel Rage."
"She's one of the most talented writers I've come across," said Sarah Shotland, one of Ms. Schaffer-Agnew's teachers, a Chatham MFA student and the graduate coordinator for the program, Words Without Walls.
Homewood fiction writer Sandra Gould Ford started the program, teaching writing at the jail for five years before retiring to leave Words Without Walls with Ms. Shotland and her classmates last spring. The MFA students took it on feeling there should be more to their degree than "art for art's sake."
In the past year, they have instituted a prize named for Sandra Gould Ford, an advanced class for students who want to complete longer projects, and a bimonthly weekend workshop for students to continue writing post-release. Inmates' best work is published each spring by Chatham's independent literary publishing class.
This fall, the Allegheny County Jail will double creative writing course offerings because of their popularity, Ms. Shotland said.
Among these successes, Ms. Schaffer-Agnew's is outstanding, Ms. Shotland said. "I would put her creative work up against anybody's in our graduate class," she said.
Although Ms. Schaffer-Agnew can no longer take classes at the Allegheny County Jail, she continues to write, corresponding with Chatham MFA student Ben Gwin, another of her teachers.
"I know it's a cathartic experience for her," Ms. Shotland said. "The experience of fiction helps her escape, helps her cope."
First Published June 7, 2011 12:00 am
