Kentucky Author Forum

In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean became the spiritual advisor to Patrick Sonnier, a convicted killer of two teenagers, who was sentenced to die in the electric chair of Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. In the months before Sonnier’s death, the Roman Catholic nun came to know the convicted felon, the families of his victims, and the men whose job it was to execute him. Out of Sister Prejean’s experiences came the #1 national bestseller Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Dead Man Walking. In celebration, the book has been re-released with a new preface by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and new afterwords by the author, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins. Sister Prejean visited the WFPL studios while in town to speak at the Louisville Free Public Library.