Helen Prejean her best-selling book, "Dead Man Walking" (1993), based on her experiences with two convicts on Death Row for whom she served as spiritual adviser before their executions. In her book, she explored the effects of the death penalty on everyone involved. The book was adapted as a 1995 film of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. It was also adapted as an opera, first produced in 2000 by the San Francisco Opera. Helen Prejean was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of Augusta Mae (née Bourg; 1911–1993), a nurse, and Louis Sebastian Prejean (1893–1974), a lawyer.
Susan Isaacs books and screenplays, Isaacs has reviewed fiction and nonfiction for "The New York Times", the "Los Angeles Times", "The Washington Post", and "Newsday". She belongs to the National Book Critics Circle. Isaacs has written about politics, including a series of essays on the 2000 presidential campaign for "Newsday". She has also authored op-eds and articles on feminism, film, and First Amendment issues. In 1985, Isaacs adapted her own novel for the screenplay of the Paramount film "Compromising Positions", which starred Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. She wrote and co-produced Touchstone Pictures’ "Hello Again", a 1987 comedy starring Shelley Long, Gabriel