Antiracist organizer Josh Fernandez discusses his new book, The Hands That Crafted the Bomb, with fellow writer Joe Loya, whose own memoir, The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell, was published in 2005.

The Hands That Crafted the Bomb is “the messy story of a ‘fucked up person’ trying to ‘channel rage into something less destructive,’ a guy who tends to run face-first into danger but also has the good sense to run away screaming when confronted with a knife-wielding racist. Fernandez's account of violence, trauma, and loneliness is hard to read in places, but there’s an underlying sweetness here, a hopefulness about flawed people helping each other out, a sense that if we can get past the lies, we can remake this world together.” (Matthew N. Lyons)

Josh Fernandez is an antiracist organizer, a father, a runner, a fighter, an English professor, and a writer whose stories have appeared in Spin, the Sacramento Bee, the Hard Times, and several alternative news weeklies. He lives in Sacramento, CA.

Joe Loya is an essayist, TV writer, podcaster and author of the acclaimed memoir, The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell (available from joeloya.ltd). He cohosted  the podcast Bank Robber Diaries in 2019. He’s currently completing another memoir, producing a podcast on prison life, and selling a TV show about a family of bank robbers.