HEADLINER: John Grisham & Deirdre Enright - The Courage to Confront a Broken System
- Tom Tom Foundation Staff
- 14 hours ago
- 3 min read
Wednesday, April 22
5:30PM - VIP Reception
7:00 PM - Talk
Paramount Theater
Join bestselling author John Grisham and Deirdre Enright, founder of the UVA Innocence Project, at the historic Paramount Theater for a powerful conversation on justice, wrongful conviction, and the moral courage required to confront systemic failure.Â
This headlining conversation will launch the 14th Annual Tom Tom Festival, whose theme is COURAGE, and will explore the human cost of mass incarceration, the realities behind wrongful convictions, and the long road to exoneration for those imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. Most importantly, the conversation will examine the bravery necessary to demand fairness, accountability, and compassion in our criminal justice system.Â
Drawing from decades of legal advocacy, investigative work, and storytelling, Grisham and Enright will share the stories of wrongfully convicted individuals, and examine how narrative, law, and public will intersect in the fight for reform — underscoring why innocence work remains one of the most urgent civil rights issues of our time.Â
Tickets:Â
General Admission $30Â
Student & Scholarship $15Â
VIP & Patron $100*
*includes a pre-show reception, with proceeds supporting local justice projects
John Grisham is one of the most widely read authors in the world and a leading voice on issues of justice and wrongful conviction. A former lawyer, Grisham has written more than 50 novels, many of which explore the flaws, failures, and moral complexities of the American legal system. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide, with numerous adaptations for film and television.
Beyond his literary success, Grisham has become a prominent advocate for criminal justice reform. He is deeply involved in innocence work and has written several nonfiction books — including The Innocent Man and Framed — that examine wrongful convictions and the systemic failures that allow them to occur. Through his writing and advocacy, Grisham has helped bring national attention to cases of injustice and has played a role in securing exonerations for individuals wrongly imprisoned.
Deirdre Enright is the Founder and Director of the University of Virginia Innocence Project, where she leads efforts to investigate wrongful convictions and advocate for the exoneration of individuals who have been unjustly imprisoned. A nationally recognized expert in innocence work, Enright has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of law, investigative journalism, and criminal justice reform.
Before founding the UVA Innocence Project, Enright served as the Director of Investigations for the Innocence Project in New York, where she helped shape modern innocence advocacy and played a key role in numerous exonerations across the country. At UVA, she also serves as a clinical professor of law, mentoring students as they work directly on post-conviction cases and systemic reform efforts.
Continue the Conversation!
This conversation is part of Tom Tom’s ongoing criminal justice programs, which invites the community to examine how our justice system works—and who it leaves behind—while imagining a brighter future that brings the entire community together.
In past years, Tom Tom has partnered with the Fountain Fund, UVA Law’s Decarceration & Community ReEntryClinic, Central Virginia Community Justice, and many others to create accessible entry points for people to learn, listen, and engage. This has included hosting the ReEntry Summit , which brought together formerly incarcerated people, advocates, service providers, and policymakers, as well as organizing Jail Tours and Restorative Justice Conversations that offer residents a firsthand look at the realities of local incarceration and how to break the cycle of recidivism.
Upcoming talks include the Tomorrow Talk: The Courage to Repair - An Introduction to Restorative Justice Practices.