Sister Helen Prejean, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book "Dead Man Walking" and an internationally known death penalty opponent, will give a public talk at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Monday, Nov. 3.
Prejean will be on campus as part of the World Affairs Athenaeum program and will speak at 7 p.m. in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.
In 1981 Prejean began a prison ministry after dedicating her life to serving the poor of New Orleans. She later began a written correspondence with Patrick Sonnier, a convicted killer and death row inmate in Louisiana's Angola State Prison. Over time she became his spiritual adviser and witnessed his death on the electric chair. Based on those experiences she wrote "Dead Man Walking," which was turned into an Academy Award-winning movie in 1996.
"Sister Helen is one of the most outspoken death penalty opponents in the world today," said Michael Radelet, a professor of sociology at CU-Boulder and one of the nation's leading experts on the death penalty.
"Her opposition stems from a strong Christian faith, a strong command of death penalty facts and firsthand experiences with both death row inmates and families of homicide victims," said Radelet, who is a personal acquaintance of Prejean.
CU-Boulder students also are invited to attend a student dinner with Prejean on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. The dinner is only open to CU-Boulder students, and reservations are required.
For more information about the public lecture call (303) 492-7252. To make reservations for the student dinner e-mail the Athenaeum fellows at cwaathen@colorado.edu.