Emily DePrang

Emily DePrang is a staff writer at The Texas Observer, where she covers public health and criminal justice. Her reporting has appeared in The Atlantic, Black Book, Bitch, Nerve, FHM, and others. A former nonfiction editor of the Sonora Review, DePrang has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Arizona and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2013, DePrang won the Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists for public interest magazine journalism and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for an essay published in Fourth Genre.

An Unlikely Alliance Urges State Prison ClosuresJan 11, 2013
Conservatives and public employee unions rarely unite over an issue, but desperation makes strange bedfellows. At the end of 2012, a surprising coalition emerged [...] Full Story
If It Were Up To Us…Jan 06, 2013
We detail a dozen items that deal with the biggest problems in the state. Some of them are liberal fantasies (ahem, income tax) but others are sound public policy ideas that Texans of all ideologies support because they would improve the lives of millions of people. Full Story
Life On the ListDec 26, 2012
A single mistake when he was 12 landed Josh Gravens on Texas’ sex offender list. He’s been paying for it ever since. Full Story
A Few of Houston’s Accidental Gun DeathsDec 21, 2012
The renewed debate over gun control has lately settled into two broad camps: those who think more guns in the right hands would reduce [...] Full Story
Helena Handbasket: One Bizarre Year In the Life of Houston’s Strangest PoliticianDec 19, 2012
In November 2011, the residents of Houston’s City Council District A went to the polls to elect their representative to City Hall. Spring Branch residents need real representation. What they elected, instead, was Helena Brown. Full Story

Direct Quote: Taking No BullApr 08, 2013
Kevin Woodson, 56, never saw a black cowboy when he was growing up, but he was determined to become one himself. Full Story
Direct Quote: Fishing For a Living On the Texas CoastMar 04, 2013
Mauricio Blanco has made a life on the Texas coast as an oysterman, though drought and pollution make it harder to earn a living every year. Full Story
Death at Dawson: Why Is Texas’ Worst State Jail Still Open?Feb 26, 2013
Horrific stories of medical neglect continue to emerge from Dallas's privately run Dawson State Jail. As damning reports are released one after another, a bipartisan coalition is asking how Dawson isn't closed yet. Full Story
Direct Quote: Never Forget a FaceFeb 11, 2013
Ken Pridgeon, 77, is on a mission to memorialize every Texas serviceperson lost in Iraq and Afghanistan with a 3’-by-4’ portrait, Full Story
If It Were Up To Us…Jan 06, 2013
We detail a dozen items that deal with the biggest problems in the state. Some of them are liberal fantasies (ahem, income tax) but others are sound public policy ideas that Texans of all ideologies support because they would improve the lives of millions of people. Full Story