Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack, is  the recipient of the 21st Century Award at the prestigious Carl Sandburg Literary Awards to be presented at a dinner on Oct. 20. Given annually by the Chicago Public Library and Chicago Public Library Foundation, the award "honors a significant work or body of work that has enhanced the public's awareness of the written word." Past recipients have been Eula Biss and Patrick Somerville.

The Second Sunday book club from Lancaster PA has created a Reader's Guide for Rebecca Skloot's book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

What a novel idea. The State of Connecticut has launched the 2011 Governor's Summer Reading Challenge. Capital Dispatch decided to ask their lawmakers, "What's on your summer reading list"? Two of our past books books turned up on some of the legislators' lists: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

Henrietta Lack's story has sparked a lot of interest in medical research and medical ethics. Henrietta's cells called the HeLa strain were named after the first two letters of her first and last name. Her cells have been used since 1951 to help scientists learn more about how human cells behave in the laboratory. The study of HeLa cells have attributed significantly to the success of the polio vaccine and many other medical breakthroughs.  It was 25 years before the Lack's family knew about the use of Henrietta's cells. Journalist Rebecca Skloot tracks down the source in her new book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Find out more about Henrietta Lacks and why her cells are so important. See photos from Smithsonian.com of Henrietta and David Lacks.