Dystopian Novel ‘Chain-Gang All-Stars’ Portrays Prison System Uncomfortably Similar to Our Own

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s novel ‘Chain-Gang All-Stars’ portrays an American prison system with corporate-sponsored gladiators whose fights to the death, and most every waking moment, are followed, reality TV style, by the nation. It’s a searing satire of an  exploitative prison system and the society that supports it that is uncomfortably recognizable. We talk with Adjei-Brenyah about the speculative, and the actual, American prison system and writing a novel about dehumanization through characters that are full of humanity, compassion and love.