Center Stage With Mark Gordon

Sherrida Woodley talks about her award-winning novel Quick Fall of Light. Set during a bird flu epidemic, a woman vows to protect a passenger pigeon whose secret existence will determine humankind's future. The book's inspiration came from her experience working in a pathology lab in the mid-1990s. She saw how environmental destruction and extinction of endangered species could lead to the release of pathogens and viruses deadly to humans.