Media
Television appearances, radio interviews, podcasts, and press coverage featuring Jean Trounstine and her work.
As Featured In
TV & Video
2026
Prison POD — “Transforming Lives in Prison Through Theater” — Jean Trounstine on her work in women’s prisons, using theater to empower incarcerated women, and her move into fiction with Sounds Like Trouble to Me (Season 5) June 2, 2026
Tewksbury Public Library — Virtual event, Jean Trounstine on Sounds Like Trouble to Me May 26, 2026
A Mighty Blaze — Jean Trounstine on Sounds Like Trouble to Me May 14, 2026
Cyrus Webb — Jean Trounstine on Sounds Like Trouble to Me May 2026
2024
About the Authors TV — Jean Trounstine on Shakespeare Behind Bars & Motherlove 2024
Lit Fic with Caroline Leavitt — Jean Trounstine on Motherlove 2024
Fierce Conversations with Toby — “I Could Hear Their Voices Speaking Out of the Darkness” — Jean Trounstine on Shakespeare Behind Bars, Boy With A Knife & Motherlove March 12, 2024
2019
Changing Lives — Theatre and Literature in Prison as Sources of Change — Jean Trounstine leads an educational seminar at Pesaro Prison, Italy, with incarcerated individuals, theatre staff, court officers, and students from Carlo Bo University of Urbino. Filmed November 4–5, 2019. Produced by Aenigma University Cultural Association for the International Network Theatre in Prison (INTiP). November 2019 — Pesaro Prison, Italy
2016
David Pakman Show — “Juveniles in Adult Prisons: A Disastrous Idea” — re: Boy With A Knife May 19, 2016
Rising Up with Sonali — re: Boy With A Knife April 19, 2016
2012
Marblehead Community Access TV — “Changing Our World” — Linda Weltner interviews Jean Trounstine at Marblehead’s Abbot Library about her work with women at Framingham Women’s Prison and her book Shakespeare Behind Bars. April 2012
2011
- Performing New Lives Panel — NYC at the East Side Institute, introducing the power and potential of theatre in prison April 15, 2011
2010
- Performing New Lives — moving 7-minute video trailer drawing together original and innovative programs in contemporary prison theatre 2010
2007
- Pen New England Freedom to Write Forum — “Writing on the Walls: American Prison Writing,” sponsored by WGBH, Boston MA April 19, 2007
Undated
- Jean’s Changing Lives Through Literature program has appeared on The Today Show.
Radio & Podcasts
2026
- National Prison Radio Talk — Podcast interview on Sounds Like Trouble to Me and the criminal legal system April 2, 2026
- Aging Well Together Radio Show — Episode 107: Author/Activist/Educator Jean Trounstine on her novel Sounds Like Trouble to Me April 13, 2026
- Rising Above the Shadow of Abuse Podcast — Interview on Sounds Like Trouble to Me May 4, 2026
- Locked Up Living Podcast — “How Literature Transforms Women Behind Bars” — with Dr. Naomi Murphy & David Jones May 6, 2026
- Frankie Boyer Show — Interview on Sounds Like Trouble to Me with award-winning talk show host Frankie Boyer May 14, 2026
- The Hustler Files — Episode 162 with Lisa Reilly, WHMP 101.5 / 1400 AM May 15, 2026
- The Kathryn Zox Show — Live radio interview. Also available on VoiceAmerica Variety and via the Kathryn Zox Show podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and TuneIn June 3, 2026
- KFMG “The Culture Buzz” — Podcast/radio interview, KFMG 98.9 FM June 12, 2026
2024
- Radio Boston, WBUR — “Book highlights stories of mothers caught up in the criminal legal system” — interview with Jean Trounstine and Stacey Borden March 29, 2024
- The Amy Beth Arkawy Show — interview May 17, 2024
- WHMP “The Hustler Files” — interview 2024
- Radio Pesaro Incontro — coverage (Italy) 2024
- Book Stew, Wilmington MA July 1, 2024
- KFMG The Culture Buzz May 13, 2024
- Bill Brady Show April 10, 2024
- WFHG SuperTalk 92.9FM, Richmond Virginia April 6, 2024
- WLMP Interview — WHMP 101.5 / 1400 AM April 6, 2024
2016
Reforming the Justice System with Jan Miyasaki, WORT FM May 4, 2016
- The Bill Newman Show, WHMP Radio May 17, 2016
- Public Eye with Al Vuona — podcast April 17, 2016
- Killer Legal Reality Radio — Amazing People, a 3-part series April 21, 2016
- Ideasphere with Guy Rathbun April 11, 2016
- Radio With a View — a show about Boy With A Knife April 10, 2016
- A Story of Murder, Remorse, and Justice, Radio Boston with Karter Reed March 30, 2016
2015
- “You Are Here” — a show about prison education, WERS Boston, interview by Maria Nifakos October 18, 2015
2014
- Rap Radio out of UMass Amherst — Juvenile Justice and Massachusetts harsh sentencing laws 2014
2006
- Four Stories — Boston’s pre-eminent reading series, Crime and Punishment: Stories from the Big House, featuring Jean, Tracy Slater, TJ Parsell and Elaine Lee. Listen to the mp3 October 30, 2006
2001
- Interview, All Things Considered, NPR — Shakespeare Behind Bars March 21, 2001
- Interview with Elizabeth Lund, Christian Science Monitor — “Putting Drama into Prison’s Stark Life”
Undated
- Jean has also appeared on The Connection with Chris Lydon and Here and Now with Robin Young.
Web & Blogs
2026
- “Is There a Future Without Incarceration? Abolitionist Art Shows Us One” by Nicholas Powers — Sounds Like Trouble to Me May 23, 2026
2024
- Caroline Leavitt Substack — roundup feature on Motherlove 2024
- NonSolo Flaminia — coverage (Italy) April 29, 2024
- Eventi Culturali Magazine — coverage (Italy) April 30, 2024
- Dedalo Multimedia — coverage (Italy) 2024
- Vivere Urbino — coverage (Italy) April 29, 2024
2016
- CarolineLeavittville — “A Young Prisoner fights for Justice in Jean Trounstine’s extraordinary true narrative of murder, memory, truth and redemption, in Boy With A Knife” April 11, 2016
2014
- CarolineLeavittville — “The Bard and women behind bars: Jean Trounstine talks about Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison” December 3, 2014
2007
- BlogCritics Book Review by Katie Tratner of Why I’m Still Married July 29, 2007
2006
- Interview by Doug Holder of Ibbetson Press on Almost Home Free 2006
Undated
- “Women Who Dared” — award from the Jewish Women’s Archives, featured interview at JWA online
- Jean on Changing Lives Through Literature
- “The Quality of Mercy” — online review of Shakespeare Behind Bars by Scott Ruescher for Arts/Editor 2001
- Hadassah “New Jewish Novels and Novellas to Read This Spring” by Sandee Brawarsky — includes review of Sounds Like Trouble to Me May 2026
- Dig Boston “This Boy’s Knife” by Chris Faraone April 19, 2016
- Boston Mag “Boy With A Knife Makes the Case for Justice Reform” by Carly Metz April 13, 2016
- HuffPost “Prison Is No Place for Kids: An Interview with Author Jean Trounstine” by Chris Zoukis December 15, 2015
- Globe “A Different Read on Life” by Yvonne Abraham — Changing Lives Through Literature May 12, 2011
- Globe “Shakespeare Goes Behind Prison Bars” by Susan Chaityn Lebovits July 15, 2007
- Globe Review of Why I’m Still Married by Jan Gardner — “With Hope and Honesty, Essays Show How Marriages Endure” March 8, 2006
- Lowell/Middlesex “Get Your Groove On: Improvisation as a Path to Participation” — Lowell Civic Collaborative/Middlesex Community College 2006
- SF Chronicle “Taking Shakespeare into a Women’s Prison” by Bob Blaisdell April 1, 2001
- Austin Chronicle “Prison Buff: Peeking Behind the Curtain of Incarceration” by Amanda Eyre Ward April 6, 2001
- American News “A Novel Approach to Sentencing has Criminals Hitting the Books” by William Boles 1997
Reviews
2026
- Arts Fuse “Sounds Like Trouble to Me: The Damage Prisons Do” — review by Bill Littlefield May 21, 2026
- Hadassah “New Jewish Novels and Novellas to Read This Spring” by Sandee Brawarsky — includes review of Sounds Like Trouble to Me May/June 2026
2024
- Arts Fuse “Motherlove: The Desperations of Incarceration” — review by Bill Littlefield April 9, 2024
- Celtic Lady Celtic Lady Reviews — spotlight review of Motherlove 2024
- Novels Alive Novels Alive — 4-star review of Motherlove May 1, 2024