Echols - Life after death: the shocking true story of an innocent man on death row

PRAISE FOR DAMIEN ECHOLS

Damien Echols spent eighteen years on death row for murders he did not commit. Somehow, in the depths of his unspeakable nightmare, he found the courage and strength to not only survive, but to grow, to create, to forgive, and to understand. Life After Death is a brilliant, haunting, painful, and uplifting narrative of a hopeless childhood, a wrongful conviction, a brutal incarceration, and the beginning of a new life. John Grisham

Damien Echols suffered a shocking miscarriage of justice. A nightmare few could endure. An innocent man on death row for more than eighteen years, abused by the very system we all fund. His story will appal, fascinate, and render you feeble with tears and laughter. A brilliant memoir to battle with literary giants of the calibre of Jean Genet, Gregory David Roberts, and Dostoevsky. Johnny Depp

The life of Damien Echols is a journey similar to that of the metal that becomes a samurais sword. Heated and pounded until it becomes hardened, it can hold its edge for centuries. It is incredible that Damien endured and survived one of the most tragic miscarriages of American justice, and emerged such a centered, articulate and extraordinary man and writer. Life After Death proves that he paid dearly for his wisdom. Henry Rollins

Wrongfully imprisoned by willfully ignorant cops, prosecutors and judge, Damien Echols draws on all his wits and his unique view of humanity to survive eighteen years on death row. My admiration for him, and the strength of his spirit, increases with every page. Peter Jackson, Academy Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter

This is a stunning piece of work. Such hope while faced with injustice. Damien teaches us how to live. Eddie Vedder

I am in awe of Damiens ability to write so beautifully, with such ease, humor and honestythis is inspired storytelling, a wonderful book! Fran Walsh, Academy Award-winning screenwriter, composer and producer

In this searing, finely wrought memoir, Echols recalls his poverty-stricken childhood, the trial of the West Memphis Three, and the harsh realities of life on death rowThe most affecting sections are Echolss philosophical musings on all he has lost, his thoughts often influenced by Zen Buddhism. Publishers Weekly

Exceptional memoir by the most famous of the West Memphis Three. [B]are facts alone would make for an interesting story. However, Echols is at heart a poet and mystic, and he has written not just a quickie one-off book to capitalise on a lurid news story, but rather a work of art that occasionally bears a resemblance to the work of Jean Genet. A voracious reader all his life, Echols vividly tells his story, from his impoverished childhood in a series of shacks and mobile homes to his emergence after half a lifetime behind bars as a psychically scarred man rediscovering freedom in New York City. The author also effectively displays his intelligence and sensitivity, qualities the Arkansas criminal justice system had no interest in recognising during Echols ordeal. Essential reading. Kirkus Reviews

[Echols] case garnered worldwide attention, but [his] memoir is about as far away from a publicity-seeking I-was-wronged story as possible. The author opts for a meatier, and certainly more haunting, account of his life behind bars, coupled with flashbacks to his childhoodEchols is a talented writer, and when the book dips into his own spiritual and philosophical beliefsit achieves the kind of emotional resonance that many similar books lack A tragic and often disturbing story. Booklist

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Copyright Damien Echols Publishing 2012

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright above, no part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

First published 2012 by the Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First published by The Text Publishing Company, 2012

This edition 2013

Cover design by WH Chong

Page design by Claire Naylon Vaccaro

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Author: Echols, Damien.

Title: Life after death : the shocking true story of an innocent man on death row.

ISBN: 9781922147578 (pbk.)

ISBN: 9781921961878 (ebook : epub)

Subjects: Echols, Damien.

Death row inmatesUnited StatesBiography.

PrisonersUnited StatesBiography.

False imprisonmentUnited States.

Dewey Number: 364.66092

for Lorri

Silently I sit by

Watching men pace their cells

Like leopards

Biting their nails

With furrowed brows

The scene speaks for itself

D AMIEN E CHOLS,

V ARNER S UPER M AXIMUM

S ECURITY U NIT,

G RADY , A RKANSAS