Escape Artist: Memoir of A Visionary Artist on Death Row [Hardcover]

An ABA Indies Introduce Top Ten Title for Winter 2018
William A. Noguera has spent thirty-four years at the notorious San Quentin Prison, home to the nation’s largest and deadliest death row. Each day, men plot against you and your life rests on a razor’s edge. InEscape Artist, he describes his personal growth as a man and artist and shares his insights into daily life and the fight to survive in the underworld of prison culture.

After being sentenced to death, he arrived at San Quentin Prison and was thrown into a rat-infested cell—it was there that he discovered the key to his escape: art. Over the next three decades, Noguera rebelled against conventional prison behavior, and instead forged the code he lives by today—accepting responsibility for his actions, and a self-imposed discipline of rehabilitation. In the process, he has explored his capacity to bring focus and clarity to his artistic vision.

Escape Artistexposes the violence, politics and everyday existence within the underbelly of society that is prison life. In an unprecedented narrative, Noguera reveals the emotional and heart-wrenching loss that landed him on death row and the journey he has taken to become an award-winning artist, speaker, and author—a tale of one man’s transformation through tragedy.“Escape Artistis a gripping, sad, inspirational and amazing story of being on death row in America's worst prison and, more interestingly, the emotional journey that got Mr. Noguera into prison and how he evolved into a world-class artist and rehabilitated human being. This book is fascinating on many levels.”—Chris Morrow, Northshire Bookstore (Manchester Center, VT)

The book is a chilling look through the eyes of a man who has nothing to lose in this life except going to his grave without being understood. Noguera is a gifted storyteller whose story is not only valuable, but must belc2