Cyntoia Brown-Long comes to Atlanta for Nov. 11 book signing

Inmate Cyntoia Brown, right, of the Tennessee Prison for Women gets a hug from a Lipscomb University faculty member after delivering a commencement address in 2015, before she received associate degrees from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Inmate Cyntoia Brown, right, of the Tennessee Prison for Women gets a hug from a Lipscomb University faculty member after delivering a commencement address in 2015, before she received associate degrees from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Cyntoia Brown-Long, who spent 15 years in prison for murder, will be in Atlanta Nov.  11 to sign copies of her book, “Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System.”

Brown-Long  was convicted of the 2004 murder of Johnny Allen, a Nashville real estate agent who picked her up to have sex.

Brown-Long, who was 16 when she was sentenced, told police she shot the 43-year-old Allen in self defense, fearing he was reaching for a gun.

She had been forced into sex trafficking as a child.

Spelman College student Eva Dickerson (right) and Atlanta resident Jill Cartwright (center) hold signs in support of a clemency push for Tennessee inmate Cyntoia Brown outside the Georgia Capitol in 2018, in downtown Atlanta. Legal activists are urging Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to grant Brown’s clemency petition in a case that’s gained international attention. J. SCOTT TRUBEY/STRUBEY@AJC.COM

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At 31, she was granted clemency by then-Gov. Bill Haslam, who cited her age at the time of the shooting and her rehabilitation while in prison. She was released this summer.

She has said she hopes her experience will help young people.

Cyntoia Brown smiles at her friends and family during the break in her clemency hearing Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville, Tenn. Brown is the Nashville woman sentenced to life in prison at age 16 for the murder of a stranger who picked her up at a fast food restaurant. It is her first bid for freedom before a parole board since the 2004 crime.

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The discussion and book signing will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 11 at Clark Atlanta University’s Juanita P. Baranco Multipurpose Room at the Bishop Cornelius L. Henderson Student Center, 223 James P. Brawley Drive S.W.

The book was written with Bethany Mauger.

Brown-Long's  case drew international attention and trended on social media under the hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown.  Celebrities such as Rihanna and Kim Kardashian West called for her release.

After being freed, Brown-Long  announced her marriage to Christian performer Jamie Long .