By Katarina Rodriguez

According to IMDb, “Orange is the New Black” is a popular Netflix TV series, written and produced by Jenji Kohan who also wrote the popular TV series “Weeds.”

Season one of “Orange is the New Black” begins with the character Piper Chapman. She has to spend fifteen months in prison after being convicted of a decade-old crime of transporting money for her drug-dealing girlfriend. Chapman now must figure out how to survive the next year-and-a-half in a women’s correctional facility.

The series was released in 2013 and has since been growing in popularity. The TV show has also won many awards such as the People’s Choice Award in 2014 for Favorite Streaming Series.

Piper Chapman’s character, played by actress Taylor Schilling, is based off the true story of Piper Kerman. Kerman went from being a Smith College Alumni to inmate 11187-424, and is now New York Times Bestselling author of the book, “Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison” which was published in April 2010. Her book is a memoir about the real experiences she encountered while behind bars at a federal correctional facility in Danbury, Conn.

According to Petritsa Chatzitziva, assistant director of student involvement at Kutztown University, Piper Kerman will be speaking at Schaeffer Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Oct. 23. She will be addressing her book and the TV series and how she turned her negative situation into a positive one. Her goal of the presentation is to raise awareness for reform of our justice system. After she is finished speaking, there will be time for a Q & A session, which will be followed by a book signing.

This event is free and is sponsored by Association of Campus Events. However, seats may be limited because students with a valid Kutztown University ID are given priority. ACE has also arranged for the university bookstore to order Piper Kerman’s book.