Invisible Prisons
with Lisa Moore and Jack Whalen
Hosted by Sara Power
"Lisa Moore is an astonishing writer. She brings to her pages what we are always seeking… a magnetizing gift for revealing how the earth feels, looks, tastes, smells, and an unswerving instinct for what's important in life.”
Presented in partnership with Library and Archives Canada.
For those unabkle to attend in person. the livestream will play directly from this page.
Join us for an evening of riveting nonfiction as we welcome multi-award-winning author Lisa Moore back to the Festival stage with Invisible Prisons: Jack Whalen's Tireless Fight for Justice. It tells the shocking true story of a teenaged boy who endured abuse and solitary confinement at a reform school in Newfoundland, but survived through grit and redemptive love.
Invisible Prisons is an extraordinary, empathetic collaboration between the magnificent writer Lisa Moore, best-known for her award-winning fiction, and a man named Jack Whalen, who as a child was held for four years at a reform school for boys in St John’s, where he suffered jaw-dropping abuses and deprivations. Despite the odds stacked against him, he found love on the other side, and managed to turn his life around as a husband and father. His daughter, Brittany, vowed at a young age to become a lawyer so that she could seek justice for him. Today, that is exactly what she is doing—and Jack's case is part of a lawsuit currently before the courts.
As much as it is about an abusive system preying on children, it is also a tender tale of love between Jack and his wife Glennis, who saw the good man inside a damaged person and believed in him.
Books are available from our friends at Perfect Books.
The Ottawa International Writers Festival is supported by generous individuals like you. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter and making a donation to support our programming and children’s literacy initiatives.