|
Rebecca Skloot is a contributing editor at Popular Science magazine, a sometimes correspondent for the NPR show RadioLab, and the author of a monthly Pets column for Prevention magazine. She writes feature stories, essays, and reviews for The New York Times and New York Times Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, Discover, Columbia Journalism Review, New York Magazine and others, including the PBS television series Nova ScienceNOW, where she's worked as an on-air correspondent. Skloot specializes in writing about science and medicine, but is known to cover a wide range of topics, from food politics and goldfish surgery to packs of wild dogs in Manhattan. Her work has been anthologized in several textbooks and essay collections, including The Best Food Writing 2005, Norton's Best Creative Nonfiction anthology, and Women's Best Friend: Women Writers on the Dogs in Their Lives. Her article When Pets Attack, was named Best Personal Essay of the Year by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and several of her stories have been selected as notable essays by the Best American Essays, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Science and Nature Writing collections. Her first book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is forthcoming from Crown, a division of Random House.
Skloot is on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle, where she serves as a judge for their yearly book awards. In 2006, she launched Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle, which she maintains along with Culture Dish, her blog on science, life, and writing. She also launched Popular Science's online book page featuring reviews, author interviews, and excerpts.
Skloot - who has taught in NYU's graduate Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program and the University of Pittsburgh's creative nonfiction program - recently joined the faculty at the University of Memphis, where she teaches creative nonfiction. Skloot has appeared as a guest on numerous radio and television shows and is a regularly invited speaker for talks and workshops nationwide on subjects ranging from bioethics to book proposals and freelance writing. Please see the appearances and workshops page of her site for more details and a list of upcoming appearances.
She financed her undergraduate and graduate degrees in biomedical sciences and nonfiction writing by working in emergency rooms, neurology labs, veterinary morgues and martini bars. She now divides her time between Memphis and New York City, though she occasionally abandons city life to write in the hills of West Virginia. For more information, see her CV or visit her blog for regular updates and more information about her articles (including follow-ups and photos). Also see a recent Conversation With Rebecca Skloot for her often-requested tips on breaking in as a freelance writer, as well as her Tips for Successful Book Reviewing.
|
|
Photos by John Zibell, blue knit shawl by Betsy McCarthy Last updated 6/29/07 |
