LITERATURE + LECTURES

Brazos Bookstore presents a book signing and discussion with Wilbert Rideau, Tuesday, May 11 at 7pm.

Since his 2005 trial and release after 44 years in prison, former Angolite editor and award-winning journalist Wilbert Rideau has continued to devote himself to educating people about the realities of the world behind bars. Wilbert has spoken widely since his release on the subjects of the justice system, prison, and journalism. He regularly speaks at Continuing Legal Education training sessions and legal conferences.

His autobiography, In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and Deliverance, will be in bookstores on April 27, 2010. More than a tale of personal transformation and triumph, it is also the story of how the Louisiana State Penitentiary changed from the bloodiest prison in America to one of the safest. His vantage point as editor of the nation’s only uncensored prisoner-produced publication for 25 years lends the book unique insight and dispels many popular misconceptions about both the keepers and the kept.

More than a prison memoir, the book is a searing exposé of the failures of our legal system, and the dramatic tale of a prisoner who, aided by those who believed in him, finally attained his dream of freedom.

“Wilbert Rideau kept his cool for 44 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, put up with racial bias and severe injustices, won national awards editing the prison newsmagazine, and has written a book that moves without letup to an ending that’s alive with suspense.” --Elmore Leonard