Harper Discusses ‘Letters To An Incarcerated Brother’

Former CSI: New York actor Hill Harper (Dr Sheldon Hawkes) released his fifth book, Letters to an Incarcerated Brother, earlier this week. Here’s the link to the official website for the book, and you can find a collection of interviews and videos after the jump!

Harper spoke to Essence about the book, and here’s an excerpt:

ESSENCE.com: You’ve written the book especially for incarcerated men. Why?

Hill Harper: I want to be clear: the book is for incarcerated men as well as women, and their families. I started getting letters from a number of incarcerated young people as well as adults and the correspondence really touched my heart. A number of the letters are in my book. There’s one in there from a young man named Brian that made me ask the question Did Brian fail society or did society fail Brian? That’s what started me down the road, researching and exploring this idea. Just like any of my books, I’m not the expert. I’m just like the reader; attempting to figure it out. The impetus of this book is wanting to fill a void. Incarceration is like a cancer in our community. We are 13 percent of the U.S. population, but we’re 60 percent of inmates.

Next, check out this interview from the New York Observer, and here’s a quote about Harper’s future writing plans:

Do you have any plans for a future book?

You know what? This is it. This is my final nonfiction book. So people are gonna enjoy it or not. I feel like I’ve said all that I want to say. I put everything I got into this one.

Also check out this exclusive interview from OK! Magazine. Here’s an excerpt:

OK!: A lot of your projects are about inspiring young people and mentoring, so I’m wondering if anyone ever mentored you, and what their strongest message to you was?

HH: I had so many people in my life, and by far the strongest message was this: “There is nothing you can’t do.” No matter how bad something gets, no matter where you come from, you can achieve anything. I really do believe that. To me that is what this whole book is about—telling people that you’re not stuck. There is a way to fix it and change. I was really fortunate that I had people in my life that taught me that.

Here’s the recording of a Spreecast interview Harper did on November 6. In it, he discusses Letters to an Incarcerated Brother, Covert Affairs and CSI: NY.

You can also check out the video below, in which Harper spoke to Sway in the Morning on November 7:

Yahoo! has another video interview. Here’s an excerpt from the attached text article:

“This book is not just for individuals who are in prison — in a physical prison. Many of us are in prisons not made of iron bars that I hope this book will help set free,” said Harper.

“Fundamentally speaking, it is a motivational book and a book about inspiration — a book that reinforces the idea or the fact that no matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, you can live a great life.”

Check out another video below, from WREG.com:

This link to MSNBC features an excerpt from the book, along with a video of Harper speaking to Rev. Al Sharpton.

Finally, check out this interview from PIX 11.