“I wasn't committed to this because I knew this is going to be a book. I was committed to this because it felt morally important to me. And there was a feeling that justice could be done in some way, or served in some way, by the work that I was doing.”
– Alice Driver, Author of “Life and Death of the American Worker,” 2024 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize Winner
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Author and journalist Alice Driver remembers her first time meeting people from other countries as a child in rural Arkansas – they were all workers at meatpacking facilities. Her book, “Life and Death of The American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America’s Largest Meatpacking Company,” which won the $25,000 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize, focuses on the struggles those immigrant workers face today – specifically those employed by Tyson, America’s largest meatpacking company.
In this episode, Alice Driver joins the J School Prizes Department’s Abi Wright and Lisa Cohen to talk about her award-winning book, the impact it’s had on migrant workers and the meat industry, and how young journalists can keep their momentum going if they decide to tackle longform projects of their own.
Read more about “Life and Death of The American Worker,” and Driver’s other books, here.
Do you, or someone you know, have a non-fiction work-in-progress that is currently under a book contract? If so, enter to win the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize - or other Lukas Book Prizes - before the Dec. 4, 2025 deadline. Go to https://journalism.columbia.edu/lukas for more information and to enter.