Dr. Ira Byock's Four Things That Matter Most explores well-being through the end of life, emphasizing the importance of emotional health even in the face of death. His work highlights that human development continues through life’s final stages.

In This Party’s Dead, Erica Buist explores death festivals around the world, blending humor, cultural insight, and personal grief. Her irreverent tone challenges how we fear death and invites celebration instead.

Frank Ostaseski, author of The Five Invitations, aims to help people live fully by embracing life’s fragility. He encourages living in the present and highlights wisdom from those nearing death. His ideal death is one where he can fully embrace the moment.

Erica Buist, after a traumatic encounter with death, became fascinated with death anxiety. She advocates for normalizing conversations about death to alleviate fear, drawing on personal experiences and research.

In R.A. Villenueva's poem "In the Winter We," memory burns bright like a hot flame, reviving the cold, flat imagery of winter. The poem, from Reliquaria, is beautifully brought to life in a short animation.

Comfort food rituals around death have existed for millennia, from Neanderthals to modern times. Global funeral dishes, like Belgian soul bread, Chinese jai, and Jamaican johnny cakes, offer comfort and community.

Lux Narayan, a data scientist, analyzed 2,000 New York Times obituaries to identify common threads using word clouds. His insights reveal patterns in life and death, offering reflections on how to live fully.

DeathLab, a research collaborative at Columbia University, explores sustainable death practices in urban spaces. Their winning design, Constellation Park, transforms bodies into energy, creating a public memorial.

Mark Dowie reflects on death, mortality, and legacy in this heartfelt interview.

Marisa Renee Lee's Grief is Love explores grief as a form of love, addressing the complexities of witnessing loss and the weight of multiple griefs. Lee encourages embracing love’s enduring strength despite death.

Donna Bassin uses art to address difficult topics like aging and end-of-life conversations, aiming to challenge societal views on consumerism and death through photography, film, and storytelling from diverse experts.

Delia Ephron’s Left on Tenth blends grief, illness, love, and recovery with her signature wit. A heartfelt memoir that offers insight into caregiving, the healthcare system, and second chances at life.

Katy Butler, author of The Art of Dying Well, found her path to end-of-life advocacy after her father's stroke, highlighting the failures of the medical system. Her exit plan is to be surrounded by stars, and she wishes for joy and acceptance in life and death.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, set in a Mississippi town, tells the complex story of a family grappling with addiction, trauma, and grief. Filled with magical realism, it explores death’s haunting presence and healing.

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong is a collection of poignant poetry born from grief, exploring loss, trauma, and the fragility of life. Through delicate, raw imagery, Vuong invites readers to navigate the complexities of grief.

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin follows four siblings who, after learning the dates of their deaths from a fortune teller, live haunted by their prophecies. The novel explores love, loss, and the impact of knowing one's fate.

Susan Ducharme Hoben, author of Dying Well…Our Journey of Love and Loss, emphasizes the importance of celebrating life and planning for a well-prepared death. Her book offers a personal account of navigating mortality with gratitude, love, and deliberate decisions, aiming to inspire others to live fully and plan thoughtfully for their end-of-life journey.