Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of the best-seller Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, will speak at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis on Nov. 14.

Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of the best-seller Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, will speak at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis on Nov. 14.

  • Oct. 26, 2012

Sheryl WuDunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-author of the best-seller "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," will speak at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis on Nov. 14.

WuDunn's presentation will begin at 6 p.m. in the IUPUI Campus Center, 420 University Blvd.
She will sign copies of her book immediately following the presentation. WuDunn's appearance is a highlight of IUPUI's 2011-13 Common Theme "Change Your World: The Power of New Ideas." "Half the Sky" is the campus reader for the 2012-13 academic year.

This special event is free and open to the public. Visitor parking is available at the Vermont Street garage.

WuDunn and her husband, New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, titled their book after a Chinese proverb: "Women hold up half the sky." In the book, WuDunn and Kristof recount the stories of women of courage and determination battling sex trafficking, abuse and gender-based violence, poverty, and lack of education and basic health care in Cambodia, Kenya, India, Sierra Leone, Somaliland and Vietnam.

The book has inspired a new documentary, also titled "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," and recently broadcast on PBS as part of public TV's Independent Lens series. The film features American actors America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde, who join Kristof in the field as he visits the women and girls he and WuDunn highlight in the book.

In partnership with local PBS station WFYI, IUPUI will host screenings of the documentary at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, (Part 1) and Thursday, Nov. 8, (Part 2) in the Lilly Auditorium, IUPUI University Library, 755 W. Michigan St. This is free and open to the public.

The 2011-13 Common Theme, "Change Your World: The Power of New Ideas," was inspired by the stories and principles described in the book "How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas" by David Bornstein, which was the campus reader for 2011-12.

Learn more about local, national and international social entrepreneurship on the IUPUI Common Theme Facebook page.