Anthony Ray Hinton, the man who turned his wrongful conviction and nearly three decades of incarceration into the lauded The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row, will visit the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh this week.

Hinton will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Reeve Memorial Union ballroom on the Oshkosh campus. The event is free and open to the public.

“We are grateful that Anthony Ray Hinton is coming to UW Oshkosh to share his story. As someone who was wrongfully incarcerated and served 30 years on death row, he has significant insights into how to reform the criminal justice system,” said Mike Lueder, interim director of the Center for Community Engagement at UWO. “Learning from his story is a fantastic opportunity for our community and students.”

The Center for Community Engagement is hosting the event with support from the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership. A virtual option will be available via Zoom. Users can access the meeting room with the passcode 789133.

Hinton was falsely accused of committing two murders outside of Birmingham, Alabama in 1985. He was wrongly convicted and spent nearly 30 years on Alabama’s death row before his exoneration in 2015. Since his release, Hinton has become a powerful advocate against the death penalty and speaks nationally about the urgent need for criminal justice reform.

Published in 2018, The Sun Does Shine was a New York Times best-seller and was the summer 2018 selection for Oprah Winfrey’s book club.