Pulitzer Prize

Tag: Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize Winner James Forman Jr. to Explore Causes of Mass Incarceration at Lawrence Talk

James Forman Jr., author of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, will deliver a talk that explores the rise of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on people of color. The talk will be followed by a signing of his book, which is hailed as “superb and shattering” by The New York Times.

James Forman Jr. headshot
Pulitzer Prize Winner James Forman, Jr. to speak at Lawrence University.

Forman explores how the war on crime that began in the 1970s was supported by many African American leaders in the nation’s urban centers and seeks to understand why. His exploration began when Forman served as a public defender in Washington, D.C. After he failed to keep a 15-year-old out of a juvenile detention center, he wondered how the mayor, the judge, the prosecuting attorney, the arresting officer, even the bailiff—all of whom were black—could send so many of their own to a grim, incarcerated future.  

Forman, now a professor at Yale Law School, will explore the answers during a talk and signing at Lawrence University on Thursday, October 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Wriston Hall Auditorium.  He will show how good intentions and pressing dangers of the last 40 years have shaped the get-tough approach in the culture at large and in black neighborhoods.

Forman’s visit is sponsored by the Erickson Fund for Public Policy, Center for Institutions and Innovation at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and Lawrence University’s Government Department and Office for Diversity and Inclusion. He is hosted by Lawrence University Associate Professor of Government Arnold Shober. “Wisconsin has some of the highest incarceration rates of African-Americans in the country, yet race, crime, and prison are one of the most complex—and heart-rending—policy issues in modern America,” Shober says.  “Forman’s talk will help us think carefully and compassionately about our way forward.”

This event is free and open to the public and no registration is required.

Lecture and Signing with Pulitzer-Winner James Forman, Jr.
Thursday, October 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center Auditorium
Appleton, WI
Free and Open to the Public

Author Andrew Solomon explores differences that unite us in convocation

Award-winning author, lecturer and activist Andrew Solomon presents “Far from the Tree: How Difference Unites Us” Thursday, Feb. 2 at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel as part of Lawrence University’s 2016-17 convocation series.

A photo of Award-winning author, lecturer and activist Andrew Solomon.Solomon will conduct a question-and-answer session immediately following his address. The event, free and open to the public, also will be available via a live webcast.

The presentation is based on Solomon’s best-selling book “Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity,” which won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and the 2013 Anisfield-Wolf Prize for Nonfiction.

Based on interviews with more than 300 families and a decade of research, Solomon argues that individual human differences within families is a universal experience. He chronicles parents coping with children with a variety of challenges, from deafness, dwarfism and Down’s syndrome to schizophrenia, severe disabilities and autism, as well as children who are prodigies or transgender and the profound meaning they find in doing so.A photo of the cover of the book "Far from the Tree" by Andrew Solomon.

His previous book, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, won the 2001 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize.

Splitting time between New York City and London, Solomon writes about politics, culture and psychology, covering topics as diverse as Libyan politics and deaf culture. He contributes to numerous publications, including Travel and Leisure, the New York Times and The New Yorker.

In addition to his writing, he holds appointments as professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University Medical Center and lecturer in psychiatry at Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York. In 2008, he was recognized with the Humanitarian Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry for his contributions to the field of mental health.

Solomon earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Yale University, a master’s degree in English from Jesus College, Cambridge and a Ph.D. in psychology from Jesus College.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.”  Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.