Outlook Mixtape: a death-defying nun, poetry and gospel

When Sister Helen Prejean agreed to correspond with a convicted murderer on Louisiana’s death row in 1982, she had no idea she would end up becoming his spiritual advisor, eventually accompanying him to his execution two years later. The experience changed her profoundly inspiring her lifelong mission to fight the death penalty.

Laura Dockrill was holding a glass of champagne, wearing bright pink lipstick and smiling broadly when she announced the birth of her son on social media. That photo did not tell the whole story and a few days later she was in a psychiatric hospital, a ‘textbook’ case of the rare condition: postpartum psychosis.

Salima Hashmi grew up in Lahore witnessing the radical poetry of her celebrated father, Faiz Ahmed Faiz. It inspired her own path into art and performance, creating Pakistani TV’s first ever political satire show.

And the gospel singing sensation 50 years in the making. In 1975 the Staples Junior Singers, a family gospel group from Aberdeen, Mississippi released a record. It sold a few hundred copies through church gatherings, local fairs and even from their front lawn. It would take nearly five decades for that album to reach international acclaim. Now the surviving members are embarking on a European tour.

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Julian Siddle

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(Photo: Cassette tape. Credit: Getty Images)