Tickets on sale for 'Orange is the New Black' author's visit to BGSU

Piper Kerman, best-selling author of “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison,” will visit Bowling Green State University on Tuesday, Nov. 1, to discuss her book and life story. 

Kerman will present as part of the "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories" lecture series sponsored by BGSU University Libraries and its Leadership Council. Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the presentation following at 7:30. All events are hosted in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Tickets for the event are $30 for dinner and $100 for the VIP event, which starts at 5:30, and dinner.

Tickets are available now.

Kerman’s book chronicles her 13 months spent in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn. In "Orange is the New Black," she explores the experience of incarceration and the intersection of her life with the lives of the women she met while in prison: their friendships and families, mental illnesses and substance abuse issues, cliques and codes of behavior. 

Since her release, Kerman has worked tirelessly to promote the cause of prison and criminal justice reform. She serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association, which provides preventative services for at-risk women, works to create alternatives to incarceration, advocates against practices such as shackling during childbirth, and offers programs to aid reentry into society. In her professional career as a communications consultant with Spitfire Strategies, she has worked on a number of criminal justice issues, including public defense reform, juvenile justice reform and the legal challenge to the “stop and frisk” laws in New York. She is a member of the advisory board for InsideOUT Writers.

Kerman’s memoir was adapted into a critically acclaimed Netflix original series of the same name by Jenji Kohan. The Emmy and Peabody Award-winning show has been called “the best TV show about prison ever made” by The Washington Post.

To individuals with disabilities, please indicate if you need special services, assistance or appropriate modifications to fully participate in this event by contacting Disability Services at dss@bgsu.edu or 419-372-8495. Please notify us prior to the event.