Rebecca Skloot Bio Is Topic on February 29th
The Stratford Library “Books Over Coffee” program continues its 2012 series with a discussion of Rebecca Skloot’s critically acclaimed biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks on Wednesday, February 29th at noon. “Books Over Coffee” is hosted by Stratford educator and author Kathleen Faggella.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance. Soon to be made into an HBO movie by Oprah Winfrey, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks takes readers on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers filled with HeLa cells.
“Books Over Coffee” will be held in the Stratford Library’s Lovell Room beginning at noon on February 29st. Participants are invited to bring a bag lunch to the program and coffee and tea is also served. Limited reading copies of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks are currently available for loan at the library’s Circulation Desk. “Books Over Coffee” titles are also available on Kindle and Nook eReaders for limited loan at the library.
For further information call the library’s Public Relations and Programming Office at: 203.385.4162.
Stratford Library Association
2203 Main St., Stratford, CT 06615
203-385-4164
