Bio
Rebecca Skloot is a science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; Columbia Journalism Review; and many other publications. She has explored a wide range of topics, including goldfish surgery, tissue ownership rights, food politics, and the perils of packs of wild dogs in Manhattan, and her essays have been widely anthologized. She is also a contributing editor at Popular Science magazine, and has worked as a correspondent for NPR’s RadioLab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, her first book, was published by Crown, an imprint of Random House, on February 2, 2010 and debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list on February 21. The book was named a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick for Spring 2010, and Dwight Garner wrote in the New York Times: “Provocative…one of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I’ve read in a long time…It has brains and pacing and nerve and heart.” For more reactions to the book, visit the reviews and press coverage pages of this site.
Skloot served for eight years on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle, where she was a vice president and judge for their yearly book awards. In 2006, she launched Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle. She now blogs at Culture Dish, hosted by Seed Magazine.
Skloot has a B.S. in biological sciences and an MFA in creative nonfiction. She financed her degrees by working in emergency rooms, neurology labs, veterinary morgues and martini bars. She has taught in the creative writing programs at the University of Memphis and the University of Pittsburgh; she’s also taught science journalism in NYU’s graduate Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. She currently teaches writing workshops and gives talks on subjects ranging from bioethics to book proposals at conferences and universities nationwide.
Skloot divides her time between several cities she loves: Memphis, New York City, and Portland, Oregon. And she regularly abandons city life to write in the hills of West Virginia, where she tends to find stray animals and bring them home.
