Sister Helen Prejean to Speak on the Death Penalty at “The Big Read” Kick-Off Event on February 25

After witnessing the execution of a death-row inmate she had been counseling, Sister Helen Prejean wrote Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. Her book became a movie, an opera, and a play for high schools and colleges. Today the Roman Catholic nun divides her time between educating citizens about the death penalty in the U. S., and counseling death row prisoners.

Sister Prejean will speak at Brookdale on Monday, February 25, at the college’s kick-off event for “The Big Read,” a National Endowment for the Arts initiative in which people across the country are reading and discussing Ernest Gaines’ classic “A Lesson Before Dying.”  

There are two opportunities to hear Sister Helen Prejean speak at Brookdale (and both include book signings).  

The first opportunity will be at 11 AM in the Brookdale Recreation Center (B-REC) at the Lincroft main campus.  The second presentation will be at 7 PM in the Warner Student Life Center at the Lincroft main campus.

Tickets for either presentation are $9 general admission for adults, and $4 for students and members of the Center for Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Education, who are spearheading “The Big Read” around Monmouth County.  Advance ticket purchase is recommended as space is limited. Please visit www.chhange.org for details and purchase.

Screenings and discussions of the film Dead Man Walking will be held on February 12, 21, and 28.  Tickets for the film are $4, available at www.chhange.org

“We are excited that ‘The Big Read’ is underway,” said Dale Daniels, Executive Director of Chhange.

“Our many partners include Brookdale, the Monmouth County Arts Council, the Monmouth County Library System, the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Lunch Break, and many others - all of whom have helped us plan events across Monmouth County,” said Daniels. “Thousands of community members, middle school, high school, and college students have committed to come together in special events, book discussions, film series, and dramatic performances that will examine ‘A Lesson Before Dying’ and its pertinent themes.”

More than “25 Big Read” events are scheduled around Monmouth County between February and April. “The Big Read” is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.