Dead Man Walking Author to Speak in Boulder
While
living in the St. Thomas Housing Project in New
Orleans in the early 1980s, Sr. Helen
Prejean became pen pals with Patrick Sonnier,
sentenced to die in Louisiana's electric chair
for the murder of two teenagers.
Upon Sonnier's
request, Sister Helen repeatedly visited him
as his spiritual advisor. In doing
so, her eyes were opened to the death penalty
process. Sister Helen turned her experiences
into a book that was nominated for a 1993 Pulitzer
Prize. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account
of the Death Penalty in the United States was
number one on the New York Times Best Seller
List for 31 weeks. It also made the International
Best Seller List and has been translated into
ten different languages.
In 1996, the book was
developed into a major motion picture written
and directed by Tim Robbins
and starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Susan
Sarandon won the Academy award for Best Actress
for her portrayal of Sister Helen.
More than twenty
years after her first letter to Sonnier, the
Roman Catholic sister has witnessed
five executions in Louisiana and today educates
the public about the death penalty by lecturing,
organizing and writing.
She is founder of "Survive," a
victims' advocacy group in New Orleans, and the Moratorium
Campaign, whose goal is a worldwide moratorium
on all executions.
Presently, Sr. Helen is working
on a book for Random House about the execution
of two possibly
innocent men. The book is due out in 2004.
Sister Helen Prejean Speaks:
