Celebrate California Public Radio Day!

Support LAist to keep trusted local news strong and help unlock a $20k challenge.
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

Arts & Entertainment

'Henrietta Lacks' Scribe Rebecca Skloot Reading at UCLA Live Tomorrow Night

RebeccaSklootMandaTownsend.jpg
Skloot (Photo by Manda Townsend)

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

Tuesday, award-winning author Rebecca Skloot will read from her New York Times best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks at UCLA Live’s Royce Hall. The critically-acclaimed nonfiction book has been heralded for its intricate research and gripping story. The book tells the true tale of an impoverished young tobacco farmer who has her cells taken from her—without her knowledge—in 1951. The story takes various controversial subjects to task, from race, morality, poverty, bioethics, in vitro fertilization, and more. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was chosen as a ‘best book’ of 2010 by Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, and 60 different media outlets. Immortal Life is currently being made into an HBO movie produced by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball.

Rebecca Skloot is a renowned science writer and the co-editor of The Best American Science Writing 2011. Her work has appeared in Discover, The New York Times Magazine, and O Magazine and she has been a correspondent for PBS’s Nova ScienceNow and NPR’s RadioLab. Skloot’s latest work was UCLA’s 3rd annual UCLA 'Common Book,' which is a title given to incoming UCLA freshman to spark community discussion and intellectual debate on campus.

Tomorrow night, UCLA students and the general public can hear Rebecca Skloot discuss her sensational book at Royce Hall and learn more about the astonishing true story of Henrietta Lacks.

For more information about the event, please visit the UCLA Live website. For more information about Rebecca Skloot, please visit the author's website.

Rebecca Skloot @ UCLA Live
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 @ UCLA/Royce Hall
8pm. Tickets are free for UCLA students with valid ID and $20 for the general public.

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.

If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible donation today