Author Signings

Rebecca Skloot visits with her acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta's small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Henrietta's family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Skloot shows, the story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

 

Frank Meeink, whom Edward Norton portrayed in the Academy Award-winning film American History X, visits with his book, Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead, a raw telling of his descent into America’s Nazi underground and his ultimate triumph over drugs and hatred. Frank’s violent childhood in South Philadelphia primed him to hate, while addiction made him easy prey for a small group of skinhead gang recruiters. By sixteen he had become one of the most notorious skinhead gang leaders on the East Coast, and by eighteen he was doing hard time. Teamed up with African-American players in a prison football league, Frank learned to question his hatred, and after being paroled he defected from the white supremacy movement and began speaking on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League. A story of fighting the demons of hatred and addiction, Frank's downfall and ultimate redemption has the power to open hearts and change lives.

 

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, local author Janet Ruth signs her historical romance novel, Brenin’s Crown: A Celtic Romance. Set in the fifth-century British Isles, the novel tells the story of a woman torn between her love for a man and her desire to protect her father’s kingdom. PLEASE NOTE: This is a signing-only event.

 

Chelsea Handler, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea, visits with her new book, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. Life doesn’t get more hilarious than when Handler takes aim with her irreverent wit. Who else would send all-staff emails to smoke out the dumbest people on her own late night talk show (E!’s Chelsea Lately)? Now, in this new collection of original essays, Handler delivers one laugh-out-loud moment after another as she sets her sights on the ridiculous side of childhood, adulthood, and daughterhood. Family moments are fair game, whether it’s writing a report on Reaganomics to earn a Cabbage Patch doll, or teaching her father social graces by ordering him to stay indoors. Chelsea also performs at the Dodge Theater tonight at 8. PLEASE NOTE: This is a booksigning only.

Lettered tickets (free with book purchase) will be called alphabetically to form the booksigning line. Chelsea Handler can personalize books, but will be unable to pose for photographs or sign memorabilia.

CAN’T MAKE IT? If you’d like an autographed book from any of our author events, please call us at 480.730.0205 to pre-pay and we’ll have one or more copies signed and reserved for you.

 

Never before has character education been more important for those who love and care about children -- or as difficult with the endless stream of negative media images and messages we face. Dr. Jack A. Gilbert, Director and Faculty Associate of the Master of Healthcare Innovation program at Arizona State University and author of Gilbert’s Fables: Using Story Sharing to Nurture Values in Children We Love, explores with attendees how story-sharing can be a powerful, enjoyable tool to create a dialogue about positive values between children and those who care for them.

 

 

Ronald Alexander, PhD, a mindfulness-based psychotherapist, author and international teacher, presents his book Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss and Change. He discusses ancient Buddhist practices, cutting edge ways to think creatively, and tools from positive psychology to help weather the storms of challenge and upheaval. Lama Surya Das wrote the book’s introduction, and Judith Orloff calls it “an outstanding guidebook to applying mindfulness practices to artfully navigate times of change and crisis.” More info: www.openmindtraining.com.

 

 

Discover how the process of uncluttering and organizing can simplify your life! Donna Smallin (aka The One-Minute Organizer), author of eight books including The One-Minute Organizer: A to Z Storage Solutions, shares simple, creative strategies to de-clutter and de-stress your life in the new year. More info: www.unclutter.com.

 

 

Drawing from her years of experience as a teacher, yoga instructor, and life coach, Sandi Greenberg, author of Your Yoga Experience: 52 Comprehensive Lessons for Lifelong Practice, offers suggestions for shifting your perspective to create a new reality in the new year. Your Yoga Experience is a practical guide to the physical, mental, and spiritual practice of yoga, and was written for practitioners of all levels -- from novices to experienced instructors looking for lesson plans.

 

 

Local author Darryl Dawson signs copies of his independently published debut, The Crawlspace: A Collection Of Short Horror Stories. With offbeat tales like “The Puppet Show” and “Hamburger Lady,” The Crawlspace will pull you into the darkness and never let go! More info: www.darryldawsonbooks.com.

 

 

Sandra Mitchell, a professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, visits with her book Unsimple Truths: Science, Complexity, and Policy. Birds form coherent patterns when they flock, major depressive disorder has some sort of genetic basis, the global climate is changing, but we can’t predict exactly how fast. What do these diverse things have in common? They are all complex, being made up of many parts interacting to generate the feature we attempt to explain. Mitchell explores these and other examples and argues that contemporary scientific explanation requires us to shift out of an old philosophical framework to accommodate emergence, dynamic causality and deep uncertainty. How we think about the world, how we investigate the world and how we act in the world must be revised to make sense of complexity.