Rebecca Skloot is a science writer who specializes in narrative journalism. She is the author of The New York Times Bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which was chosen as a best book of the year by more than 60 media outlets, translated into more than 25 languages, and adapted into an HBO film starting Oprah Winfrey as Deborah Lacks, and Rose Byrne as Skloot. The film received an Emmy nomination for Best Picture. Skloot has a B.S. in biological sciences and an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction and has taught creative writing and science journalism at the University of California Berkeley, the University of Pittsburgh, New York University, and others.
At MacDowell, she spent her six-week residency working on her book-in-progress, which explores the often controversial topic of animal research through a deeply personal story about our complex relationships with animals – their roles in our lives, and in science – and the humans who battle over their fates, and as a result, our own.
