This week, Transgress will officially launch, featuring short fiction by Dale Bridges and Heather Tribbett, a photo essay by journalist Grace Hood and essays by Stephanie Train and Vince Darcangelo (and some other goodies as well).

In the meantime, here are some other literary treats to whet your appetite:

Redemption Through Reading, a prison program in Brazil that offers reduced sentences to inmates who read and write essays on important works of literature. Glad to see Brazil recognize the importance of education, literacy and rehabilitation. For a similar program closer to home, check out the Community Literacy Center at CSU (which has some strong ties to the Transgress family).

It’s not just us blubbering over Ray Bradbury. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (and amazing short story writer) Junot Diaz honors the man in The New Yorker with Loving Ray Bradbury.

It’s also worth your while to check out some of Diaz’s work, such as “Monstro,” which appeared in The New Yorker‘s sci-fi edition in May, and “Ysrael,” from his collection Drown, as heartbreaking a story as you’ll ever read.