Short bio
John "Divine G" Whitfield built an award-winning body of work — four PEN Awards, the Tacenda Literary Award, and a citation by the United Nations — while incarcerated. His life and writing anchor the A24 film Sing Sing, on which he is an Oscar-nominated writer and executive producer, and for which Colman Domingo earned a Best Actor nomination portraying him. He founded Divine G Entertainment.
Medium bio
John "Divine G" Whitfield is a novelist and playwright whose writing career began — and flourished — while he was incarcerated. He published a body of acclaimed work behind the walls, including the novels Enigma of Love, Money-Grip, and Baby Doll, along with short fiction and drama in national anthologies, earning five national writing awards (four PEN Awards and the Tacenda Literary Award) and a citation by the United Nations for his advocacy of education in detention.
His life and work are the basis of the A24 film Sing Sing, for which he is an Oscar-nominated writer and an executive producer, and in which Colman Domingo earned a Best Actor nomination portraying him — making Whitfield one of the first two formerly incarcerated RTA alumni ever nominated for an Academy Award. He is the founder of Divine G Entertainment.
Full bio
John "Divine G" Whitfield is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and producer whose literary career began during his incarceration and produced a remarkable body of published work. His first published piece, the short story Averted Hearts, appeared in the Triple Crown Productions anthology The Game: Short Stories About the Life. He went on to publish the novels Enigma of Love (his first), Money-Grip (his second), and Baby Doll (his third), and the play Peak-Zone in the anthology Exiled Voices, Portals of Discovery: Stories, Poems, and Drama by Imprisoned Writers — all while behind the walls. Along the way he won four PEN Awards and the Tacenda Literary Award — five national writing awards in all — and was quoted by the United Nations in the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education of persons in detention (A/HRC/11/8, 2009).
His life and writing are the basis of the A24 film Sing Sing, on which he shares an Oscar- nominated writing credit and served as an executive producer, and for which Colman Domingo received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor portraying him — making Whitfield one of the first two formerly incarcerated Rehabilitation Through the Arts alumni ever nominated for an Oscar. After his release he founded Divine G Entertainment, through which he self-published additional novels (No Other Love, The Canarsie Connection, TGONG, Time Jack) and re-released his catalog in eBook, paperback, and audiobook. He has adapted all of his novels into feature screenplays, Money-Grip and Money-Grip 2, among others, are now being taken to producers.
Academy Award nomination — Best Adapted Screenplay (Story credit), Sing Sing, 97th Academy Awards
Executive producer — Sing Sing (A24)
Four PEN Awards
Tacenda Literary Award
United Nations citation — Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education of persons in detention (A/HRC/11/8, p. 6, ¶ 11, 2 April 2009)
Among the first two formerly incarcerated RTA alumni ever nominated for an Academy Award
The above works were written and published while incarcerated:
Enigma of Love (first novel) · Money-Grip (second novel) · Baby Doll (third novel) "Averted Hearts" (short story, in The Game: Short Stories About the Life)
"Peak-Zone" (play, in Exiled Voices, Portals of Discovery)
John "Divine G" Whitfield
BIOGRAPHY
HONORS & RECOGNITION
Press & Media
Four-time PEN Award winner · United Nations–cited author · Oscar-nominated writer and executive producer of the A24 film Sing Sing
For interviews, review copies, event bookings, and media assets, contact divinegentertainment@gmail.ocn · 347-355-9083. — — bios, headshots, book covers, and fact sheet in one file.
AT A GLANCE
A fast reference for journalists, bookers, podcasters, press and other media influencers:
Oscar-nominated writer (Best Adapted Screenplay, Story credit) and executive producer of Sing Sing (A24), 97th Academy Awards
Colman Domingo — Best Actor nominee for portraying him
Among the first two formerly incarcerated RTA alumni ever nominated for an Academy Award
A founding member of Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) — the program at the heart of Sing Sing
Began writing during a wrongful imprisonment; his fight for exoneration continues with the Deskovic Foundation
Four PEN Awards + the Tacenda Literary Award — five national writing awards
Quoted by the United Nations (Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education of persons in detention, A/HRC/11/8, 2009)
Author of eight novels plus published short fiction and drama — an award-winning body of work produced while incarcerated
Founder & CEO, Divine G Entertainment
THE STORY
Long before Hollywood knew his name, John "Divine G" Whitfield was writing — and publishing — from inside prison. Money-Grip, his second published novel, became popular on Rikers Island: incarcerated readers' families bought copies, men read it, and they sought him out in the yard and the mess hall for his autograph, inspiring many of them to start reading. That true history is woven into the Oscar-nominated film Sing Sing, where Whitfield cameos as a book fan — and the character played by Colman Domingo asks if he's "from Rikers Island," a nod to the novel's popularity there — before signing a copy of Money-Grip.
It's a full circle no one could script: the author who was once asked for his autograph behind the walls, on screen, asking his own Oscar-nominated portrayal for one.
Whitfield's writing began for a reason that still drives him: imprisoned for a crime he has always maintained he did not commit, and finding no relief in the courts, he started writing to tell the world the truth about his case. His memoir, The Whitfield Files, won a PEN award in 2004. A founding member of Rehabilitation Through the Arts — the program Sing Sing portrays — he turned that fight into a body of award-winning work.
SELECTED WORKS
The above works were published through Divine G Entertainment:
Money-Grip 2, No Other Love, The Canarsie Connection, TGONG, Time Jack, plus re-releases of the catalog in eBook, paperback, and audiobook
IN DEVELOPMENT
Divine G has adapted all of the above works into feature screenplays, and has several additional screenplays that are not novels, including Midnight 47, Haints, Innocent Blood, Mirari, etc., now being taken to producers. Media and industry inquiries welcome via the contact below.
INTERVIEW TOPICS
Divine G is a story-rich, remote-ready guest who can speak to:
From a cell to the Oscars — writing and publishing his way through incarceration, and watching his life become an A24 film
The autograph full circle — the book behind the movie, its life on Rikers Island, and why authenticity is everything in this genre
Rehabilitation through the arts — how writing and theater change lives inside, and the reform conversation around it
Building a company after release — turning a prison writing career into Divine G Entertainment
Writing as testimony — the wrongful-conviction fight, the courts' silence, and how the pen became his way through it (campaign: freedivineg.org)
Adapting the page for the screen — taking Money-Grip from novel to screenplay
FEATURED / AS SEEN IN
MEDIA ASSETS — downloads
DOWNLOAD LINKS — print-resolution files:
Headshots (high-res, at least one horizontal and one vertical)
On-set photos with Colman Domingo (captioned to the factual "portrayed me / on set of Sing Sing" relationship — not implied endorsement)
Book cover images (Money-Grip and full catalog)
One-page fact sheet (PDF)
Full press kit (ZIP of all the above + the three bios)
Usage note: please anchor any use of the on-set photos to the factual statement that Colman Domingo portrayed Divine G in Sing Sing; do not present them as an endorsement of the books.
THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
Divine G's story did not end at the screen. Imprisoned for 25 years for a crime he maintains he did not commit, he continues to fight for exoneration — now represented through the Deskovic Foundation, the innocence organization founded by exoneree Jeffrey Deskovic. His writing began as his testimony to that injustice, and it is why his body of work exists at all.
Learn more and add your name: freedivineg.org
For interviews, Divine G can speak candidly about the wrongful-conviction fight and the role writing played in surviving it.
CONTACT / BOOKING
Media, interviews & review copies: John “Divine G” Whitfield · divine G Entertainment@gmail.com · 347-355-9083 - Website: www.divinegentertainment.com · Social:
Industry / screenplay inquiries: Divine G’s movie agent - Liz Hanley Raci, Bicoastal Talent and Literary, 2600 W Olive Ave. STE # 500, Burbank, CA 91505 - 818 845 0150 direct line