The Wound Is Where the Light Enters

In the vein of Writing My Wrongs, a memoir from a young man sentenced to life in prison, who gave such a moving speech during his trial that the judge left his position and fought to free him, shining a light on the prison industrial complex and showing how potential remains locked behind bars.

Were our world more just, Chris Young would probably have a doctorate or be the CEO of a tech company instead of having spent eleven years in prison.

The Wound Is Where the Light Enters takes readers through the impossible circumstances of Chris’s childhood and young adulthood in poverty and addiction-ridden Clarksville, Tennessee—circumstances that made prison, or death, look all but inevitable. At the age of 22, he was arrested on drug charges, and because of draconian sentencing laws, given a life sentence. Once imprisoned, however, he fought against the nihilism all around him and the trauma of his past, and doggedly pursued an intellectual life: He studied philosophy, art, archaeology, anthropology, history, economics, astrophysics, cosmology, quantum physics, biology, philology, and politics, learned to play the stock market, and taught himself how to code without a computer.

As shown in this stunning memoir, Chris’s mind is an indictment of how much potential remains locked up behind bars, at a time when we are reexamining our prison system like never before. More than an issue-driven book, however, The Wound Is Where the Light Enters is an homage to books themselves, and an exploration of what it means to be self-educated in the purest sense.

• “Chris Young’s incredible story will change lives—and has the potential to change laws, too. If we are going to heal this country’s addiction to mass incarceration, we need visionaries like Chris to show us the way. This is an urgent and necessary book in a distinct, new voice.”

  Van Jones, CNN Contributor and author of Beyond the Messy Truth, Rebuild the Dream, and The Green Collar Economy

• “When Chris Young finally walked out of prison after serving more than a decade of a life sentence, I knew the world was about to witness something extraordinary. Even inside prison, his brilliance, discipline, and potential were undeniable. His story opened my eyes even more to how deeply unjust our system can be—and how powerful redemption truly is. The world needs to hear Chris’s voice—and I’m so proud to know him and to have played a part in his journey to freedom.”

  Kim Kardashian

• “Chris Young’s story is a mirror held up to our justice system and to our collective conscience. I had to sentence Chris to life in prison, but that was not justice. His story is proof that talent, intelligence, and potential are everywhere—but access and opportunity are not. Chris’s presence in my courtroom transformed my life. I am so grateful that, with the gift of this book, he now has the chance to transform yours.”

  Kevin Sharp, Partner, Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP; and former judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee