Rebecca Skloot’s debut, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, was the rarest of feats: a medical thriller culled straight from the archives of 20th-century oncology. Powerful, moving, and illuminating, the bestseller established a major new voice in creative nonfiction.

What comes next for this gifted storyteller? It turns out to be animals, a topic near and dear to Skloot: before becoming a science writer, she spent more than a decade working as a veterinary technician in animal shelters, vet clinics, emergency rooms, research labs, and even an animal morgue. Those experiences, and the ethical questions they prompted, are at the center of her next book.

Join Skloot, 2010 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize winner, for a sneak preview of her research, which promises to upend our understanding of the role animals play in our lives.

This program is presented in partnership with Time Out Chicago.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit http://chicagohumanities.org/events/2013/animal/rebecca-skloot-creatures-great-and-small or call (312) 494-9509.