The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot

Biography
"Rebecca Skloot became fascinated by an offhand remark made by her high school biology teacher that the most popular line of cells sold to researchers, called HeLacells, were taken in the 1950s from a young black woman, Henrietta Lacks. Skloot started to research the story as a grad student and found that Lacks's cells were removed without her consent and that her descendants had long been unaware about her posthumous contributions to medicine. She chased the story for ten years and finally published her epic book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, in February to great acclaim." "Rebecca Skloot." Psychology Today 43.3 (2010): 80-1. Article Citation. Web. 15 Aug. 2011
Articles
- "Story Behind the Story: Rebecca Skloot's 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'" Full Text in PDF By: Seaman, Donna. Booklist, 12/1/2009, Vol. 106 Issue 7, p18-18
- Rebecca Skloot Extensive biography on Rebecca Skloot from 2010 Memphis Commercial Appeal.
- "Life unending: Rebecca Skloot found a story of immortality and faith in a young woman's tissue sample." by Sarah F. Gold Full text Publishers Weekly 256.45 (2009): 21. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Aug. 2011.
- Rebecca Skloot Psychology Today v. 43 no. 3 (May/June 2010) p. 80-1
- "Private Reparations."Palmer, Larry I. The Hastings Center Report 40.6 (2010): Inside Back Cover. Article Citation. Web. 15 Aug. 2011
- More articles about Rebecca listed on her web site.
Videos
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - Official Trailer
- A Conversation with Rebecca Skloot From C-Span Video Library, a 34 minute video Of Rebecca Skloot discussing her book at the 2010 Virginia Festival of the Book, March 19, 2010
- Henrietta Lacks - CBS Sunday Morning
- Interview with Nieman Storyboard Read about Rebecca's writing process, her expectations for the book, and how she developed the book's structure (complete with photos of the index-card story board she used to organize the book.)
- Rebecca Skloot: How Fannie Flagg and Hurricane Carter Shaped The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The author explains how two unlikely influences helped her shape "a rare and powerful combination of race, class, gender, medicine, bioethics, and intellectual property" (Seed magazine) into "one of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I've read in a very long time" (Dwight Garner, NY Times)
Websites
- Rebecca Skloot - Journalist, Teacher, Author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- Henrietta Lacks Foundation - Rebecca founded and serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the Henrietta Lacks Foundation.
- TV Quiz Show Jeopardy! Features Question about The Immortal Life - On July 29, 2011, The Immortal Life was a "double jeopardy" question on the TV Quiz Show Jeopardy!. Rebecca Skloot was flooded with emails, tweets, and phone calls from people who saw it and shouted out the answer at home.