Author Neil White To Discuss His Time In An American Leper Colony

Feb. 12, 2010

Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at media@una.edu, 256.765.4392 or 256.606.2033

Book signing and reading scheduled for March 11

FLORENCE, AL When the FBI finally caught up with publisher Neil White and his financial scheme, he was sentenced by a judge to 18 months in a federal prison. But it was no ordinary prison. Hidden away for decades in Carville, Louisiana, this beautiful colony was home to an unlikely community of leprosy patients, nuns, and criminals.

White's time in America's only remaining leper colony is recounted in his book, "In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir," published last year by HarperCollins. White will be in Florence March 11 for a book signing and reading from the memoir. The book signing will begin at 5:00 p.m. and the reading at 6 p.m. at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. The evening is being hosted by the public library, the Shoals Interfaith Council, and the Honors Program at UNA. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Vince Brewton, UNA Honors Program director, at 256-765-5005 or vjbrewton@una.edu.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs through the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; the Sanders College of Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of NCAA Division I as part of the Atlantic Sun and United Athletic conferences. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: una.edu and una.edu/unaworks/.