A memoir that inspired a popular TV series is this year’s One Book One Community selection for Evansville.
It’s “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison” by Piper Kerman.
The book chronicles 13 months Kerman spent in a Connecticut federal lockup for her small role in a drug trafficking case.
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library spokeswoman Amy Mangold tells WNIN that library officials discussed whether the book might be considered taboo, but they decided not to censor and to chose the book for the annual event.
She says it raises issues about prison reform and the justice system, and teaches young people not to fall into “traps” that can send them to prison.
Mangold also says the TV series sensationalized parts of the book.
The One Book One Community event will culminate with Kerman speaking free of charge at The Victory Theater Nov. 4th.