Minnesota Book Award winner Sheila O’Connor will be leading a virtual event today about her award-winning novel, “Evidence of V: A Novel in Fragments, Facts and Fictions.”

The event is being offered in partnership with the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library, which has taken its “Brown Bag Lunch Summer Author Series” online.

“Evidence of V” was inspired by the true story of the author’s maternal grandmother’s six-year incarceration as a 15-year-old girl for an unplanned pregnancy in 1935. The novel incorporates multiple genres as well as historical documents to bring to light the little-known practice of incarcerating girls for “immorality” at the Minnesota Home School for Girls in Sauk Centre, Minnesota and across the United States.

“Although my events have gone virtual, I remain committed to reaching out to communities across Minnesota whose families may have been affected by similar circumstances, and to raise awareness of this treatment of girls and women within the criminal justice system,” said O’Connor. Ultimately, O’Connor hopes to connect with survivors and descendants whose stories have yet to be told.

“Evidence of V” is listed as one of the Best Criminal Justice Books of the Year by the Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system. It is also a nominee for the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards.

By — Brad Hamilton