Monica Cosby

Monica Cosby is a mother, feminist, poet and activist. She is from the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago and comes from a long and rich tradition of activism. She was lost to the cycle and system of incarceration for 20 years, but has made her way home. She has spoken at a symposium about women and incarceration at Loyola University, and she volunteered at the Uptown People’s Law Center — both before her incarceration and since her release. She also spoke at the Forgotten Moms Vigil held by Mothers United Against Violence and Incarceration in May 2016. She believes in the ideal of ‘speaking truth to power,’ and in Assata Shakur’s words, she believes ‘in the sweat of love and the fire of truth.’ It is in this spirit that she speaks and writes.