Jamie Pietras

Jamie Pietras is the award-winning journalist and the creator, writer, and host of “Soul Incarcerated,” a seven-episode narrative nonfiction podcast series about Edge of Daybreak, a 1970s prison band that attempts to mount a modern-day comeback. That show was produced and distributed through a joint partnership of A+E Studios and iHeartPodcasts. It reached #8 on the Apple podcast charts for the category of Music History and was honored on Apple’s home screen as a “New and Noteworthy” podcast. 

Jamie is also the story consultant on “Edge of Daybreak,” the corresponding documentary short directed by the award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter and released through A+E IndieFilms. That film was featured in four film festivals: the DC/DOX Documentary Film Festival, American Black Film Festival in Miami, Hamptons International Film Festival, and Milwaukee Film 2025.   

His print reporting has been featured by outlets including Salon, Bomb, New York magazine, Village Voice, In These Times, New York Press, and The Nation. As a former staff writer with the alternative newsweekly Columbus Alive, he received Ohio Society of Professional Journalists awards for investigative, environmental, and social justice reporting. 

Jamie has written nonfiction books for children and young adults for Scholastic Inc. and Chelsea House Publishers, and his book reviews and feature writing have appeared in publications including Time Out New York, Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and The Writer. He is a graduate of Columbia University’s nonfiction writing MFA program.