By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:22:26 +0000

I’m a life science grad student at Emory University in Atlanta. I see you have us down as a question mark… I’d be happy to try to help put something together. We have a couple of interdisciplinary organizations for grad students who might be interested in sponsoring a visit (along with the grad student council, the graduate division of biological and biomedical sciences, the med school, and others). Email me and I can ask around about funding (it would be nice to have a ballpark estimate of how much you need before I start…). (lemaria at emory dot edu)

By: Abel Pharmboy

Abel Pharmboy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:17:08 +0000

I wanted to share an idea on how readers can support Rebecca (and other writers like her) who have books from major publishing houses that increasingly do not provide support for book tours.
For such an academically-minded book that appeals to both scholars and the lay public interested in science, ethics, race, culture, and medicine, I’ve been working on funding Ms. Skloot’s visit to PharmboyLand by soliciting support from various university lecture series programs. If you’re at a medical or pharmacy school, hit up your cancer center or medical humanities program. If you are at a minority institution, you can hit up your programs that address health disparities or medical mistrust/racism issues. If you are in an arts & humanities department, you can hit up the folks who bring in speakers on Southern culture and history.
For you undergraduate, graduate and medical students, I know that you have student activities fund pools that would give you hundreds of bucks to a grand or two to bring in a speaker and that those funds sometimes go unspent because you really don’t know who would be a good choice.
Well, choose Skloot. Rebecca is the kind of writer and speaker you want to bring to town. I know about 300 folks who would tell you the same after we all packed a lecture hall last year at ScienceOnline to hear her talk about the book and read excerpts. “Moving and engaging of both the heart and mind” is what my tasting notes read from last year.
Then, when Skloot is at your university, you’ll bring her around to all the indy bookstores in your area that host readings and signings. Organize dinners with local media, bloggers, women in STEM groups, local authors. Get her on your local radio station. Help her make interview contacts for your local paper. People will thank you for bringing Rebecca’s work to your community. I’ve done this kind of thing for others before and it’s great fun, especially when you’re promoting someone who you admire.
And to think that you don’t even have to take ten years out of your life to write a book to have such a satisfying experience.!

By: David Marjanović

David Marjanović — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:21:44 +0000

…lies a-rottin’ in the grave, but her cancer’s marching on!!!

Comments on: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Book Tour – Bring HeLa to Your Town

By: Laura

By: Abel Pharmboy

By: David Marjanović