Ben Austen

Ben Austen is a journalist from Chicago. He is the author of Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change, which was named one of the best books of 2023 by The Washington Post. His book High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Excellence in Nonfiction and named a best book of the year by Booklist, Mother Jones, and the public libraries of Chicago and St. Louis. A former editor at Harper’s Magazine, Ben teaches in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Chicago. His feature writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Wired, and many other publications. He is the writer and host of the Audible Original The Parole Room, and he cohosts the podcast Some of My Best Friends Are… with his best friend Khalil Gibran Muhammad... who also took the author photo shown here.