Journalist and social issues writer Sonia Nazario will address students at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law Thursday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. in Reid Chapel. The public is invited free of charge to the program, sponsored by Cumberland’s Cordell Hull Speakers Forum.

Author of the best-selling Enrique’s Journey, Nazario will discuss immigration issues as seen through the eyes of a child. Each year, an estimated 48,000 children enter the U.S. from Central America and Mexico illegally and without a parent.

Nazario’s 2003 account of a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother in the U.S. won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Expanded into a book, Enrique’s Journey became a national bestseller and won two book awards. It is required reading in many colleges and high schools.

Nazario has spent 20 years reporting and writing about social issues, most recently as a projects reporter for The Los Angeles Times. Her stories tackle such topics as hunger and drug addiction, as well as immigration. She has been named among the most influential Latinos by Hispanic business magazine and a “trendsetter” by Hispanic magazine.

Prior to her talk, Alabama Appleseed advocacy organization and Cordell Hull Speakers Forum will co-sponsor a panel discussion on immigration at 4 p.m. in the moot courtroom of Robinson Hall law building. Panelists are victim witness specialist Jacqueline Vickers of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Leslie Hillhouse of Catholic Social Services’ multicultural resource center; and Shay Farley, Alabama Appleseed legal director. Zayne Smith, immigration policy fellow with Alabama Appleseed, will moderate. The public is invited.

For more information, call (205) 726-2704.