From the Cell to the Shelf...

The Duality

You know me as Bennaire Gibson -- entrepreneur, brand strategist, and the voice behind Business By Benn. But there is another side of me that has been quietly waiting for this moment.

Meet B. Tremayne Edwards. Author.

These two identities are not separate. They are two expressions of the same man -- a man who has always believed that words have power, that stories matter, and that the truth, told boldly, can change things. The businessman builds brands. The author builds bridges. And sometimes, the most important brand you can build is the one that tells your whole story.

The Story Behind The Book

In 2016, I found myself in a place I never anticipated -- incarcerated at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, VA. I was newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, separated from my husband, and trying to navigate one of the hardest seasons of my life. One frustrated moment, one Facebook rant, and the next voice I heard was a magistrate's -- telling me I would not be given a bond.

What followed were ten months of slow time.

In that cell, I did what I have always done when the world became too much to hold -- I picked up a pen. I wrote poems. Not for publication. Not for an audience. But for survival. Writing was the one thing in that environment that was entirely mine. It kept me from losing myself in a place that was designed to do exactly that.

Years later, a close friend read those poems and told me I had something worth sharing with the world. It took another decade -- but here we are.

About the Book

Concrete Ivy: Verses from Incarceration is a debut poetry collection documenting ten months of incarceration following a mental health crisis. Written raw and unfiltered, these 33 poems explore identity, race, faith, love, loss and what it means to hold onto yourself when the system is designed to strip it away.

Organized into six thematic sections, the collection moves from the shock of arrest through social reckoning, isolation, and ultimately toward healing and purpose. It is a literary testament to survival -- and a call for compassion toward the incarcerated.

This book is for anyone who has ever been reduced to their worst moment and had to find their way back.

Get Your Copy

Concrete Ivy: Verses from Incarceration is available on pre-order for Kindle e-book, paperback and hard cover formats. 

However you like to read -- we've got you covered.