Malden Reads Event - A Talk by Hiawatha Bray

In conjunction with this year's Malden Reads book, join us for a talk by Hiawatha Bray, a technology writer for the Boston Globe's Business section. Mr. Bray will talk about what happens to our online life when we die.

Malden Reads is pleased to announce that the main book selection for 2014 is "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot.

The author, a science journalist, writes a fascinating and moving story of medicine and family, and of how life is sustained in laboratories and in memory. This true story is about a woman who was virtually unknown before this book was written, and yet her cells – which were taken without her knowledge before she died over 60 years ago – have been one of the most important tools in the field of medicine.

Known as HeLa cells, they were instrumental in developing the polio vaccine; uncovering the secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helping to lead to important advances such as in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

But who was Henrietta? Henrietta was a poor black tobacco farmer from the south, and neither she nor her family (until the book was published) had received any compensation for her incalculable contribution to science.

Reviewer Tom Nissley writes, “For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of [this story], slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who carries our memories?”

The themes that we'll draw on this year include:

What is the role of science, genetics, and privacy in our society?

What can we learn from these lessons of social justice and civil rights?

What does it mean to be extraordinary?

Who are our unsung heroes?

Malden Reads is a community reading program that seeks to answer that question. Organized by community groups, city leaders, and residents, in collaboration with the Malden Public Library and Malden Access TV, the program invites the community to read the same book and participate in a series of events related to the book’s themes. The goal is to encourage reading, promote the library and other city resources, and build community.