Chain-Gang All-Stars

Chain-Gang All-Stars (2023) is Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut novel. Set in a near-future America, the narrative centers on the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment (CAPE) program, a state-sanctioned gladiator circuit where inmates, including the protagonist Loretta Thurwar, compete in death matches for the promise of "High-Freed," which is a full release from prison granted only to those who survive three years in the ring. Throughout the text the author incorporates footnotes citing actual US statutes and incarceration data, directly linking its fictional violence to the real-world American prison system.

Signed copy. Signed by Adjei-Brenyah on a special page bound-in by the publisher.

Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, clothbound. New York: Pantheon, 2023. National Book Award longlist (2023). ISBN: 9780593317334. #11274.
Fine in fine dust jacket.