)About The Event
About The Event
On Thursday, August 6, 2026, NACDL and the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice will host Courting Justice - Sliding Toward Justice in St. Petersburg to raise money in support of the Foundation to champion liberty, justice and protect privacy. We are proud to honor and recognize Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove and host of the acclaimed podcast Bone Valley. And we will have live music from country music songwriter and artist Briana Calhoun!
Where
St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club
559 Mirror Lake Dr. N.
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
When
Thursday August 6, 2026
6:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Tickets and Sponsorships
For sponsorships - if you would like to pay over time, please contact
Clay Braswell - cbraswell@nacdl.org, to make arrangements
Honoree
Pulitzer Prize–Winning Author
Gilbert King
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Gilbert King is the author of Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida. He is also the host and producer of Bone Valley, a multi-part narrative podcast about the wrongful conviction of Leo Schofield. King is also the author of Devil in the Grove, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2013. A New York Times bestseller, the book was also named runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. King has written about race, civil rights, and the death penalty for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Atlantic, and he was a 2019-2020 fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars at the New York Public Library. King’s earlier books include The Execution of Willie Francis (2008), and Beneath a Ruthless Sun (2018). He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Live Music
Performed by Country Music Songwriter and Artist
Briana Calhoun
We are thrilled to have performing at this event - Briana Calhoun - whom many will remember from our Writers' Round in Nashville, TN in 2024. Briana is a Nashville artist with a sound and story like no other. She is president and founder of Hope on the Inside, alongside her partner and Vice President Kix Brooks, of Brooks and Dunn. Calhoun and Brooks direct, coordinate, and showcase artists of all levels through prison outreach and fundraising for inmate recovery.
She has co-written and worked with country music legends such as Terri Clark, David Lee Murphy, Bob Dipiero, Tim Nichols, Rafe Van Hoy, Marv Green, Brooks, Greg Barnhill, and a plethora of talent throughout the Nashville community.
Losing a battle to drug addiction in her early 20s, Calhoun was incarcerated for the better part of three years in a state correctional facility. Today, she brings her talent for songwriting and incredible story to those who need it most. Her mission? “...to empower the incarcerated to transition from simply existing to living with purpose.”
On top of running a successful nonprofit, Calhoun recently landed her first publishing deal with a major label. However, she will not be announcing the merger until June 1, 2025.
When she was released from prison in 2012, Calhoun was able to go back to school and earn a master's degree in education. Through faith and determination, she eventually received a pardon from the state board of education in Louisiana. She has now been teaching for 12 years and began traveling to Nashville to pursue her love of songwriting 6 years ago.
She met Brooks a little over 4 years ago through folks in North Louisiana – where they are both from – and slowly began to build her songwriting career while volunteering to speak and sing in prisons. She invited Brooks and Van Hoy to join her on one such occasion at Turney Correctional Center outside of Nashville– and the rest is history.
“I was visiting prisons because it gave me a sense of purpose and I felt the least I could do was give back,” she said. “But, Kix saw a bigger picture and encouraged me to turn my passion into a real organization. I had no idea what I was doing or how it was going to work but I dove in. A year later, I’m in absolute awe of how quickly Hope on the Inside has become a success.”
Calhoun said she is looking forward to continuing her mission of hope, and thrilled to begin work as a professional songwriter at the end of the school year. work as a professional songwriter at the end of the school year.