Leslea Newman will be telling the story of Matthew Shepard at American International College on March 26.
SPRINGFIELD-- "He Continues To Make A Difference: The Story of Matthew Shepard," a talk by Leslea Newman, author of "Heather Has Two Mommies," will be given March 26 at 10 a.m. in the Bradley Room of the Schwartz Campus Center of American International College.
The talk, based on Newman's teen novel, "October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard," a cycle of 68 poems that explores the impact of Shepard's murder, is free to the public.
In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay, 21-year-old college student at the University of Wyoming, was beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die in a remote location. Several months prior to the murder, Newman had been invited to be the keynote speaker for the upcoming Gay Awareness Week at the university, and kept that commitment, in the wake of his death, to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered Association, of which Shepard was a member.
"The Laramie Project," which is based on the Shepard story, was recently presented at AIC.
Newman, former poet laureate of Northampton, is the author of 60 books, dealing with issues of identity, sexual abuse and eating disorders, among other topics. Her award-winning short story, "A Letter To Harvey Milk" has been made into a film and adapted for the stage.
Newman has received many literary awards, including Poetry Fellowships from the Massachusetts. Artists Fellowship Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Highlights for Children Fiction Writing Award, the James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement, and three Pushcart Prize Nominations. Nine of her books have been Lambda Literary Award finalists.