Ben Austen

Ben Austen is a journalist from Chicago. He is the author of the books Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change and High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing. A former editor at Harper’s Magazine, Ben teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Chicago. His feature stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, This American Life, GQ and many other publications. He is the writer and host of the narrative documentary podcasts The Parole Room and The Last Days of Cabrini-Green, and he is also co-host (with Khalil Gibran Muhammad) of the podcast Some of My Best Friends Are…. Ben’s work has earned a Fulbright Fellowship, a National Headliner Award and a George Polk Award.