Steven Hale and Demetria Kalodimos at Parnassus Books Credit: Sarah Arnold / Parnassus Books

In his new book Death Row Welcomes You: Visiting Hours in the Shadow of the Execution Chamber, Steven Hale details the time he’s spent getting to know some of the men on Tennessee’s death row. In this special episode, we’re bringing you a live recording of the book release event at Parnassus Books last month, where Steven talked with host Demetria Kalodimos — herself a frequent death row visitor — about the experiences and friendships that led to his writing this book. (Read an excerpt here.)

You’ll also hear from death row inmate Terry King — of whom Steven says, “This is a person I would let sleep in my house” — who joins the event by phone from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

Guest

Credits

  • Host: Demetria Kalodimos
  • Producers: Steve Haruch and Andrea Tudhope

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Andrea Tudhope is the news editor for the Nashville Banner, where she also oversees the audio wing. An award-winning multimedia journalist, Andrea spent the past decade working in public radio, from reporter to newscaster to editor. As part of the founding leadership team for America Amplified, a national public media community engagement initiative, she launched a national talk show and co-wrote and edited a playbook on community-powered journalism. She came to Nashville to launch WPLN’s first-ever daily show, This Is Nashville, where she was executive producer.

Steve Haruch is the senior producer. An award-winning journalist, editor and producer, he has worked previously at the Nashville Scene and WPLN, and his writing has appeared everywhere from The New York Times to NPR's Code Switch. He edited the books Greetings From New Nashville: How a Sleepy Southern Town Became 'It' City and People Only Die of Love in Movies: Film Writing by Jim Ridley.