A Conversation With Albert Woodfox and Jackie Summell
Join the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities for a conversation with 2020 General Nonfiction finalist Albert Woodfox, whose book "Solitary: My Story of Transformation and Hope" is the 2020 LEH Humanities Book of the Year, and artist and activist Jackie Sumell, founder of the nonprofit Solitary Gardens. Woodfox, a member of the Angola 3, spent more than four decades in solitary confinement for a crime he didn’t commit. "Solitary," also a finalist for both the National Book Award, is his story.
Albert Woodfox was born in 1947 in New Orleans. A committed activist in prison, he remains so today, speaking to a wide array of audiences, including the Innocence Project, Harvard, Yale, and other universities, the National Lawyers Guild, as well as at Amnesty International events in London, Paris, Denmark, Sweden, and Belgium. His book Solitary has won numerous awards and been published in the UK, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, and Brazil. He lives in New Orleans.
Jackie Sumell is an artist and activist whose work is at the intersection of abolition, social practice, and contemplative studies. She has spent the last two decades working directly with incarcerated people, most notably, her elders Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the US and Europe. She is based in New Orleans, where she continues to work on Herman’s House, Solitary Gardens, The Prisoner’s Apothecary, and several other community-generated, advocacy based projects.
Register for the free Zoom webinar (at 11:00 a.m. CST) here.