Hi all. The heat is testing the electric grid, it’s America’s birthday, and the World Cup is making people around the globe scream and weep. This is a slimmer issue than usual, and I suspect all the death positive organizers have gone to the Hamptons.

All kidding aside, I’m happy to be sharing the sixth edition of this newsletter. This month there are lots of spaces to ponder and move through grief, plus a death doula gathering and a workshop for teens to learn how to use birth and death records to discover their ancestry. Wishing you an inspiring July.

Happening this month

✍️ WORKSHOP | Tue Jul 7: Writing a Letter to Someone Who Will Never Respond

Join Dragonfly Crossing for a quiet place to write and ponder the space where love and loss coexist. Open to people carrying loss of all kinds.

$45 | 4-5:30 pm | 307 W 38th St, Suite 1403-B, Manhattan

☺️ WORKSHOP | Sat Jul 11: Grief and Joy Workshop

Take part in an interactive workshop to release the weight of grief and awaken a joyful self through movement and laughter. Another session will be held on Jul 25.

$95 | 3-6 pm | HumorVille, 164 Meserole St, Brooklyn

🗣️ WORKSHOP | Tue Jul 14: Coping With Grief (Men Only)

Part of a six-part series from Carmel’s Depression and Anxiety Wellness Foundation, this session for men features guest speakers talking about silent struggle.

Free | 6-7 pm | Cortelyou Library, 1305 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn

🗣️ MEETUP | Thu Jul 16: A Gathering for End-of-Life Doulas

This bi-monthly event is designed to cultivate support and connection amongst local death doulas at various stages of practice. RSVP using this form.

Free | 6-8 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

🐤 MEETUP | Sat Jul 18: Birding, Grief, and Interdependence

Attendees will go birding with the intent of working through difficult feelings, and think about how nature plays a role in grief processing.

$15 suggested donation | 10 am-12 pm | Prospect Park (Ocean Ave and Lincoln Rd)

👩🏻‍💻 WORKSHOP | Mon Jul 20: All About the Databases

Teens and young adults will learn how to discover their family stories by accessing birth, marriage, and death records, and many other resources.

Free | 4-5 pm | Morningside Heights Library, 2900 Broadway, Manhattan

📚 BOOK EVENT | Tue Jul 21: Matthew Schnipper, Rise Above

Schnipper’s memoir of grief and resilience charts the short life of his son Renzo and the aftermath of his passing. The author will be in conversation with Hua Hsu.

$5-$35 | 7-8 pm | McNally Jackson Seaport, 4 Fulton St, Manhattan

🕯️ CEREMONY | Thu Jul 23: Tisha B'Av Grief Ritual

Temple of the Stranger hosts Tisha B'Av, the ancient Jewish day of communal mourning, to welcome grief and move through it. No prior experience with Judaism necessary.

$18-55 | 6:30-9:30 pm | The Onyx Room, 8 Wyckoff Avenue, Brooklyn

🗣️ Monthly meetups

These free, ongoing series have an open format and are spaces to find support, be curious, and share experiences. Check the links for all the details.

Sat Jul 11: Death Cafe at New York Public Library

First come, first seated | 3:30-4:30 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Room 304, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

Mon Jul 13: Brooklyn Mourners Common at Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

7-8:15 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Tue Jul 14: Grieving and Weaving at Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8:30 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Wed Jul 22: Good Life/Good Death Cafe at Brooklyn Public Library

2-3:30 | Park Slope Library, 431 6th Ave, Brooklyn

Thu Jul 23: Death Cafe at Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Mon Jul 27: Death Cafe at New York Society for Ethical Culture

3-4:30 pm | 2 West 64th Street, Manhattan

Looking ahead

📚 MEETUP | Tue Aug 4: Minding Our Mortality Book Club

Next month’s selection is Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle, a novel about a man who’s been followed by ghosts since his father’s death.

$10 suggested donation | 7-8:30 pm | Neighbor, 176 9th Ave, Manhattan

Registration and ticket policies vary by event. Double-check details before attending in case I mis-typed something.

Endnotes

I love park bench dedications. They’re by turns moving, playful, and reverent. Last week I was in Bodega Bay, CA, and encountered a single bench overlooking a gulch, on a path that led to the ocean. The dedication read:

Live in the sunshine.

Swim the sea.

Drink the wild air.

There was no one else around and I was swollen with anticipatory grief over how I’m going to lose my parents. They were back at the rental house, packing up for the drive back to San Francisco. It had been a lovely trip, but it was ending, and bittersweetness had set in.

The air is truly wild in that part of California. The previous day we’d been greeted by gale force winds at Bodega Head, where we stood on a cliff at the edge of the continent. The sea stuck to our hair and the wildflowers vibrated on their stems. My mom had opted out and my dad felt unstable on his feet in the face of all that wind, and retreated to the car. The rest of us wandered from majestic view to majestic view.

Walking along the gulch grounded me. It felt like the bench was telling me to be here now, in what I’d gotten to experience rather than what I hadn’t yet. My parents took off for home. I rode with my brother, directly into the sunshine.

We’re back with a packed June issue. Events in all five boroughs, opportunities to mourn, honor, and learn, plus yoga, Father’s Day gatherings, and a collaging workshop for clinicians.

Register in advance as a courtesy to organizers and to secure your spot. A couple of the events have already moved to a waitlist, so make sure to plan ahead and show up.

Also, the zine version of the newsletter, a pocket-sized quick reference guide to everything happening this month, is available at , the Morbid Anatomy Library, and Quimby’s Bookstore. Get in touch if you’d like some copies for an event or your place of business or just for yourself.

Happening soon

🧘🏻‍♀️ GATHERING | Tue Jan 2: Meeting Mortality

Go deeper into your relationship with mortality through meditation and breathwork. Facilitated by a death doula and a percussionist.

$35 | 6:30-8:30 pm | 68 White St, Manhattan

🗣️ TALK | Wed Jun 3: Unpacking AANHPI Grief

Chinese-American grief coach Charlene Lam will debunk myths about grief, and address cultural taboos around grief, death, and dying.

$5 | 6-8 pm | The Hub, 115 Bowery, Manhattan

🍃 WORKSHOP | Sat Jun 6: Death, Decay, and Decomposition

Explore ancestral and cultural death practices and how composting teaches us about healthy living and dying.

$15 suggested | 2-4 pm | Clifton Place Memorial Park and Garden, 1031 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn

🗣️ MEETUP | Sat Jun 6: Grief Support Club

Join others who get it in this safe space to share, listen, and heal together. Organized by the We Stand With You foundation.

Free | 11 am-1 pm | Clove Lakes Park, 1150 Clove Road, Staten Island

🕯️ GATHERING | Sun Jun 7: Mizuko Kuyo Ceremony for Loss

Take part in a Buddhist ceremony for those who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion, or lost a child in the first years of life.

$25 suggested | 2-4 pm | NY Zen Center, 119 W 23rd Street, Suite 401, Manhattan

🚶🏻‍♂️ TOUR | Sun Jun 7 NYC Workers Circle Cemetery Walking Tour

Visit the resting place of the Jewish socialists and Yiddish cultural figures who laid the foundation for the Jewish Left in NYC.

Free | 12-3 pm | Old Mt Carmel Cemetery, 83-45 Cypress Hills Street, Queens

🗣️ GATHERING | Tue June 9: Grieve & Gather: Fathers

Join a grounding, LGBTQ+-affirming space to honor the loss of fathers, grandfathers, and other paternal figures.

From $10 | 6:30-8 pm | BOYFRIEND Co-op, 1157 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn

📚 TALK | Wed Jun 10: Ghost Stories & Flower Bearers: Echoes of Love and Memory

Authors Rachel Eliza Griffiths and Siri Hustvedt will discuss the architecture of memory and what transforms loss into meaning.

Free | 6:30-8 pm | Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street, Manhattan

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Thu Jun 11: Hilary Plattner, The Momma Puzzle

Plattner will share her memoir about investigating the life of her mother, who died by suicide when she was six.

Free | 6:30-8 pm | Lofty Pigeon Books, 743 Church Avenue, Brooklyn

🧘🏻‍♀️ MEETUP | Sat Jun 13: Grief Yoga

Navigate loss through mindful movement and breathwork. No prior experience necessary.

$75 | 9:30 am-12 pm | Fit4Dance, 21 Snyder Ave, Brooklyn

🚶🏻‍♂️TOUR | Sun Jun 14: Gay Gothic: Love, Loss, and the Hereafter

Explore what death and memorialization have looked like for Queer people throughout Green-Wood’s 188-year history.

Free | 1-3 pm | Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St, Brooklyn

📚 BOOK TALK | Sun June 14: Alix Strauss, The Joy of Funerals

In honor of its 20th anniversary, Strauss revisits her novel about a 30-something woman who attends other people’s funerals.

Free | 2 pm | Woodlawn Cemetery, Woolworth Chapel, 4199 Webster Ave, Bronx

Later this month

✍️ TALK | Tue Jun 16: Writing About Grief, Loss, & Illness

Memoirists Stephen Policoff, Elizabeth Benedict, and Ann Gorewitz discuss their personal stories, how they coped, and what they learned.

Free | 5:30-7 pm | Tompkins Square Library, 331 East 10th Street, Manhattan

🗣️ MEETUP | Tue Jun 16: Tea and Mortality

A casual gathering to talk about death, life, and everything in between, over tea and treats.

$5 suggested | 5:30-7:30 pm | Neighbor, 176 9th Ave, Manhattan

🗣️ MEETUP | Tue Jun 16: Dead Parents Club

A new monthly space where you can feel safe knowing nobody will flinch if you bring up details, reflect on mortality, or make a morbid joke.

$33-77/month, 3-month min | 6:30-8 pm | Bed-Stuy, address shared after registration

🚶🏻‍♂️TOUR | Thu Jun 18: Lower Manhattan Cemetery Stroll

Explore the burial history and practices of six distinct cultures in NYC.

$50 | 10:30 am-12:30 pm | Leave from Trinity Church, 89 Broadway, Manhattan

🗣️ MEETUP | Thu Jun 18: Death Cafe

Join in community to talk about death and mortality over soul-nourishing drinks.

Free | 6-8 pm | Ruhani Cafe, 519 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn

✂️ WORKSHOP | Sat Jun 20: Mourning Practice: A Grief Workshop for Clinicians

Learn how to work with clients whose collective grief mirrors your own, and use collage to create a ritual object. 3 CE credits.

$175 | 12-3 pm | 150 W 28th St, Ste 1402, Manhattan

🎨 MEETUP | Sun Jun 21: Dead Dads Club Painting Party

For those grieving the loss of a father, father figure, or other loved one. Some art supplies provided, or bring your own.

$10 | 6-8 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

🎭 PERFORMANCE | Thu Jun 25: COMMITTED?

It took over 30 years for Lisa Robins to create something for her brother who died by suicide. The result is this solo show.

$15-50 | 7-8:30 pm | Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street, Manhattan

Ongoing

🎤 POP-UP | Grief on the Streets

Your grief story will be recorded and placed in a time capsule. Follow @griefonthestreets on IG to find out about upcoming appearances.

Free | Various dates and locations in June

Share NYC Death Dispatch

🗣️ Monthly meetups

These free, ongoing series have an open format and are spaces to find support, be curious, and share experiences. Check the links for all the details.

Sat June 13: Death Cafe @ New York Public Library

First come, first seated | 3:30-4:30 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Room 304, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

Sun Jun 14: Grief Support Circle @ QED

Free with $5 café purchase | 5-7 pm | 27-16 23rd Avenue, Astoria

Mon Jun 15: Brooklyn Mourners Common @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

7-8:15 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Tue Jun 16: Grieving and Weaving @ Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8:30 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Wed Jun 17: Good Life/Good Death Cafe @ Brooklyn Public Library

2-3:30 | Park Slope Library, 431 6th Ave, Brooklyn

Thu Jun 18: Life and Death Discussion Group @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

6:30-8:30 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Mon Jun 22: Death Cafe @ New York Society for Ethical Culture

3-4:30 pm | 2 West 64th Street, Manhattan

Sun Jun 28: The Open Door Death Cafe @ Creative Mornings

1-2:30 pm | Manhattan, address shared after registration

Tue Jun 30: Death Cafe @ Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Registration and ticket policies vary by event. Double-check details before attending in case I mis-typed something.

Endnotes

I was in Vermont last month and decided to listen to Rumble Strip, a podcast by Erica Heilman about the everyday lives of everyday people inVermont. It’s human and intimate and patient, sometimes a bit slow, because she lets people just talk and be. A farmer friend makes a wooden casket for his wife. A barber recounts his service in Vietnam. A home euthanasia vet goes to an appointment.

The Peabody Award-winning episode “Finn and the Bell,” about a community grieving after teenager Finn Rooney commits suicide, is an incredible piece of audio journalism. Towards the end, Finn’s mother talks at length about what happened to her in the moments after he died, how her mind did somersaults and she saw the past and future at once, and finally, “I understood for a second why we were alive, and it felt like it was for each other.” I highly recommend listening to all of her words, and being alive for each other.

“I’m not finding that much stuff,” I said earlier this month. “I hope this isn’t a thin issue.”

I’m delighted to report that it’s the opposite. This edition feels fuller than ever with chances to feel seen and welcomed. There are soft spaces to honor lost mothers and maternal figures. Go birding with others who process grief in nature. See a performance that floors you with the truth in the way only live theater can.

I hope you’re as excited about these events as I am.

Happening soon

🚶🏻‍♂️WALKING TOUR | Sat May 2: 200 Years of Death and Hauntings in Greenwich Village

Explore Greenwich Village through the lens of death to learn how tragic events have impacted the life, politics, and folklore of the city.

$40 | 6 pm | Departing from Church of the Ascension, 7 West 10th Street, Manhattan

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Sat May 2: Siri Hustvedt, Ghost Stories

Hustvedt will be in conversation with Katie Kitamura about her memoir of grief, memory, and lasting love that she began writing after her husband, Paul Auster, died. (She will also be speaking at NYPL on May 5.)

From $23.18 | 4-5:15 pm | Strand Rare Book Room, 828 Broadway, Manhattan

🎭 PERFORMANCE | Wed May 6: How to Kill a Mouse

This solo comedy from Alex Berr is about her life as a biomedical researcher processing the loss of her mother to the rare form of cancer she used to study.

From $18.76 | 9:30-11 pm | Caveat, 21A Clinton Street, Manhattan

🗣️ TALK | Fri May 8: The Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Burial in New York City

Columbia University DeathLAB will present and guide conversation about how funerary practices shape the urban landscape.

Free | 6-7 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, 7th Fl, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

🏃🏽‍♀️MEETUP | Sun May 10: Mom Memoriam Mother’s Day Walk

This guided, reflective walk is a community experience for people navigating the loss of moms or other maternal figures on Mother’s Day.

Free | 12-3 pm | Prospect Park, location shared after registration

🗣️ TALK | Sun May 10: Finding the Good Inside the Grief

Jon Imparato, author of The Good Inside the Grief, speaks with V (formerly Eve Ensler) at this event for everyone who has ever loved, lost, and dared to laugh through the tears.

Free | 12-1:30 pm | The Center, 208 West 13th Street, Manhattan

🗣️ MEETUP | Tue May 12: Grieve and Gather: Mother’s Day Event

Gather in a gentle, LGBTQ+-affirming space to honor the loss of mothers, grandmothers, and maternal figures of all kinds.

From $10 | 6:30-8 pm | BOYFRIEND Co-op, 1157 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn

📚 MEETUP | Tue May 12: Minding Our Mortality Book Club

This month’s selection is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.

$10 suggested donation | 7-8:30 pm | Neighbor, 176 9th Ave, Manhattan

🗣️ MEETUP | Thu May 14: Death Cafe at the Teen Center

Teens are invited to bring their beliefs, experiences, and questions about death to an open discussion with their peers. There will be snacks!

Free | 5-6 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Teen Center, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

Later this month

🗣️ MEETUP | Sat May 16: Grief, Arts & Design Gathering

This session about the intersection of grief, arts, and design explores how objects function as carriers of memory, meaning-making, and healing.

Free | 2-3:30 pm | 115 Bowery, Manhattan

🗣️ MEETUP | Thu May 21: A Gathering for End-of-Life Doulas

This bi-monthly event is designed to cultivate support and connection amongst local death doulas at various stages of practice.

Free | 6-8 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

🐦 MEETUP | Sun May 24: Birding, Grief, and Interdependence

Attendees will go birding with the intent of working through difficult feelings, and think about how nature plays a role in grief processing.

$15 suggested donation | 10 am-12 pm | Prospect Park (Ocean Ave and Lincoln Rd)

📚 BOOK EVENT | Sat May 30: Becky Robison, My Parents Are Dead: What Now?

Robison’s book demystifies complex legal and financial processes with a sense of humor. After a reading, she’ll be in conversation with death doula Lauren Seeley.

Free | 5 pm | Morbid Anatomy Library, 254 36th St 2nd floor, C248, Brooklyn

🎉 OPENING | Sat May 30: Right to Flight

This rooftop installation raises awareness about the hundreds of thousands of migratory birds that die each year colliding with NYC buildings, with a live performance on opening night.

$5-$25 suggested donation | 6-9 pm | Noo Arts, 520 Kingsland Avenue, Brooklyn

Ongoing

🎭 PLAY | Blood in my Mouth

A woman visits her brother’s grave and makes an unexpected connection with the happy-go-lucky brother of the deceased person one tombstone over.
$20 | May 1-10 | Andrew Logan Projects, 352 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn

🎭 PLAY | Love Story

Maria is dead, and trapped inside a play that keeps restarting itself, where scenes from her life are rehearsed and revised by her loved ones.

From $28 | Through May 17 | The Tank, 312 W 36th St, Manhattan

🎨 ART | El Cielo del Mar

Bony Ramirez’s installation uses sculpture, painting, and sound to explore loss, memory, and the passage between worlds.

Free | April 18-June 7 | Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St, Brooklyn

🎭 PLAY | Well, I’ll Let You Go

A woman contemplates the sudden loss of her husband and tries to learn the circumstances of his death in a study of grief that moves back and forth in time.

From $49 | Through June 20 | Studio Seaview, 305 West 43rd Street, Manhattan

🎭 PERFORMANCE | Sardines (A Comedy about Death)

Actor-comedian Chris Grace ponders whether we can enjoy life if we know how it ends in this hit from the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

$34 | May 5-June 24 | New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, Manhattan

🖼️ EXHIBIT | Unrolling Eternity: The Brooklyn Books of the Dead

On view for the first time is a restored 2000-year-old Egyptian Book of the Dead, which contains spells that guide a deceased person through the underworld.

Museum admission | Ongoing | Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

🗣️ Monthly meetups

These free, ongoing series have an open format and are spaces to find support, be curious, and share experiences. Check the links for all the details.

Sat May 9: Death Cafe @ New York Public Library

First come, first seated | 3:30-4:30 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Room 304, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

Sun May 10: Grief Support Circle @ QED

Free with $5 café purchase | 5-7 pm | 27-16 23rd Avenue, Astoria

Wed May 13: Grieving and Weaving @ Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8:30 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Mon May 18: Brooklyn Mourners Common @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

7-8:15 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Mon May 18: Death Cafe @ New York Society for Ethical Culture

3 pm | 2 West 64th Street, Manhattan

Wed May 20: Death Cafe @ Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Wed May 20: Good Life/Good Death Cafe @ Brooklyn Public Library

2-3:30 | Park Slope Library, 431 6th Ave, Brooklyn

Thu May 21: Life and Death Discussion Group @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

6:30-8:30 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Sun May 24: The Open Door Death Cafe @ Creative Mornings

1-2:30 pm | Manhattan, address shared after registration

Thu May 28: Legacy League @ End of Life Choices New York

10-11:30am | Dorothy Ross Friedman Residence, 475 West 57th Street, 2nd Fl, Manhattan

Registration and ticket policies vary by event. Double-check details before attending in case I mis-typed something.

Endnotes

The trees are weeping petals. I feel like I shouldn’t be so sad about fallen blossoms. Isn’t this what you wanted? Spring? But I didn’t spend enough time with them, I didn’t appreciate them enough, and I would like to lodge a complaint about the burst of pink and white being so fleeting.

But it’s what comes after that’s the main event. The lustrous leaves, the spectrum of green, the little ears on ginkgo branches graduating to full fans. They sway and rustle, and they’re not going anywhere for a long time. The certainty of that is wonderful. The blossoms will be back.

I hope you’re enjoying the trees, sinuses be damned, and navigating your sadnesses, whether tiny or torrential.

Welcome back to the NYC Death Dispatch, your monthly guide to death-related events happening in person in New York City. We’re barreling into spring and things are starting to bloom, yet it also feels like so much is unraveling. It’s a good time to be with your people.

April brings us some opportunities to gather. Celebrate the opening of Green-Wood’s beautiful new visitor center. Join one of E-Motion’s movement-based grief groups. Attend a death cafe or host your own. Read on for a lot more suggestions.

Happening this month

📚 BOOK EVENT | Wed April 8: Annabelle Gurwitch: The End of My Life is Killing Me

Gurwitch shares her comedic and contemplative memoir about her journey after being diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. The author will be in conversation with Sarah Ruhl and Alysia Reiner.

Free | 7-8:30 pm | Center for Brooklyn History, 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn

🎭 PLAY | Mon April 13: Spiritus

Inspired by Dante’s Inferno, Spiritus is a stirring solo play by Dael Orlandersmith about how we live and how we die. Following the performance, Orlandersmith will be in conversation with Emma Acker of All’s Well Initiative.

$37.80 | 7 pm | Vineyard Theatre, 108 E 15th St, Manhattan

📚 BOOK EVENT | Sat April 18: Jamie L. Brummitt: Protestant Relics in Early America

Brummitt will discuss her book about early American relic culture that centered supernatural experiences and collecting objects associated with dead Christian leaders, family members, and friends.

Free | 5-6 pm | Morbid Anatomy Library, 254 36th St 2nd floor, C248, Brooklyn

🎉 OPENING | Sat April 18-Sun April 19: The Green-House at Green-Wood

Green-Wood’s new visitor center, built around the restored Victorian 1895 Weir Greenhouse, is having its grand opening. Each day has a full slate of activities to celebrate this new space for workshops, research, and events.

Free | 10 am-5 pm | Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St, Brooklyn

🎭 PERFORMANCE | Sun April 19: Yiseul LeMieux: Die Cute

Artist Yiseul LeMieux uses cuteness to gently disarm people and guide them through grief in a way that’s playful and empathetic. Expect an imagined funeral with procession, eulogy, and celebration.

$0-25 | 2-3:30 pm | Center for Performance Research, 361 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn

🧘🏻‍♀️ WORKSHOP | Thu April 23: Shrouding & Meditation Workshop

This experiential event features a shrouding demonstration and a guided meditation led by death doula Kelly Butler. Bring a yoga mat and a queen-sized flat sheet.

$25 | 6-8 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

📚 BOOK EVENT | Wed April 29: Out of the Abyss: Yiyun Li and Édouard Louis

Li and Louis, two writers who have written vividly about death and trauma, speak with Mitzi Angel about how writing can be both an act of radical acceptance and transcendence.

$20 | 6:30–7:45 pm | Strand Book Store Rare Book Room, 828 Broadway, Manhattan

Ongoing

🎭 PLAY | The Total Veronica Experience

This NYC Fringe Festival entry performed by Veronica Manning is a richly-layered and hilarious dialogue between life and the afterlife, highlighting the enduring human need for connection and purpose.

$20-25 | Various dates and times April 4-17 | The Rat NYC, 68-117 Jay Street, Brooklyn

🏃🏽‍♀️MEETUP | E-Motion Movement Communities

These 8-week, movement-based grief groups bring people together to move their bodies, connect with others, and honor their people who have died. Submit an interest form and a facilitator will reach out to do a brief intro call.

Free | Weekly April 11 - May 30 | Movement: Hiking + stretching | Harlem
Free | Weekly April 12 - May 31 | Movement: Walking + running | Manhattan

🎨 ART | El Cielo del Mar

Bony Ramirez’s immersive installation in Green-wood’s Historic Chapel uses sculpture, painting, and sound to explore loss, memory, and the passage between worlds.

Free | April 18-June 7, 10 am-6 pm daily | Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St, Brooklyn

🚶🏻‍♂️WALKING TOUR | Death in New York

These extensive tours led by Purefinder trace the story of how death has shaped the infrastructure, values, and rituals of New York City. There’s also a shorter evening edition.

$36-44 | Weekly through May | Departing from 4 Whitehall Street, Manhattan

Last call

🎭 PLAY | My Joy is Heavy

A COVID story and a grief story, this musical memoir from Abigail and Shaun Bengson closes April 12.

From $49 | New York Theater Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, Manhattan

🗣️ Monthly meetups

These free, ongoing series have an open format and are spaces to find support, be curious, and share experiences. Check the links for all the details.

Sat April 11: Death Cafe @ New York Public Library

First come, first seated | 3:30-4:30 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Room 304, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

Tue April 14: Grieving and Weaving @ Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8:30 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Thu April 16: Life and Death Discussion Group @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

6:30-8:30 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Sun April 19: Grief Support Circle @ QED

Free with $5 café purchase | 3-4:30 pm | 27-16 23rd Avenue, Astoria

Sun April 19: The Open Door Death Cafe @ Creative Mornings

1-2:30 pm | Manhattan, address shared after registration

Mon Apr 20: Brooklyn Mourners Common @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

7-8:15 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Thu April 23: Legacy League @ End of Life Choices New York

10-11:30am | Completed Life Initiative, 155 E. 44th Street, 10th Floor

Mon Apr 27: Death Cafe @ New York Society for Ethical Culture

3 pm | 2 West 64th Street, Manhattan

Tue Apr 28: Death Cafe @ Green-Wood Cemetery

6:30-8 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Looking ahead

📚 MEETUP | Sat May 2: Silent Book Club of Death

Read and contemplate mortality in the galleries of the Met Cloisters. Following silent reading is a game of The Death Deck and discussion.

Free with museum admission | 2-5 pm | Gallery 3, Saint-Guilhem Cloister, 99 Margaret Corbin Dr in Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan

🐭 WORKSHOP | Sun May 3: Mouse Taxidermy

Divya Anantharaman is back to teach students how to prepare a custom made taxidermy mount. You’ll work with professionally cleaned and tanned skins, learn about animal anatomy, and practice different techniques.

$495, registration required | 11 am-5 pm | Private studio in Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Registration and ticket policies vary by event. Double-check details before attending in case I mis-typed anything. If you’re cooking up an event in May, don’t forget to submit it here.

Endnotes

My feline stepdaughter died in January (after four years of co-habitation I still never call Nefertiti “my cat”). I’m new to this type of grief. It’s so close to the surface lately, and I try to let it breathe even if it makes me feel like I can’t breathe. It was warm and sunny yesterday, perfect for sunbathing in the windowsill, where she could have been while I typed this. Being loved by her felt like a drug. How do you accept that something is going to hurt forever?

It’s been a rough winter. Hard to find motivation to go outside, make plans with friends, and put together coherent outfits (it’s been survival over style over here). Cheers to everyone who attend death-related events last month despite the weather and seasonal depression and challenges that have no seasons.

But the snow is thawing and March is chock-full of reasons to connect about death. Walking tours. A book about the cemeteries of New Orleans. A panel about collective grief. So many monthly meetups (9!) that I had to condense the whole section.

Read on for the full lineup.

Happening soon

🎭 PLAY | Mar 2: I’m Still Not That Girl

Jessica Lia Berry’s one-woman show is a darkly comic millennial coming of age story about a woman spiraling after the death of her mother. She’ll also be performing on Mar 7 at Theater Row.

$15-25 | 7 pm | Caveat, 21A Clinton Street, Manhattan

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Mar 9: Kim Fu, The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts

The protagonist of Fu’s novel is unmoored by her mother’s death, and her reality begins to blur after buying a home with her inheritance. The author will be in conversation with Larissa Pham.

From $10.89, advance tickets recommended | 7-8 pm | Books Are Magic, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn

📚 MEETUP | Mar 10: Minding Our Mortality Book Club

This month’s selection is The Safari Concept: An African Framework for End of Life Care by Christian Ntizimira, MD.

Free, suggested donation | 7-8:30 pm | Neighbor, 176 9th Ave, Manhattan

🧠 PANEL | Mar 10: Memory, Mass Mourning, and the Medical Humanities

This panel discussion about collective grief explores how we remember and memorialize the shared trauma of events like pandemics, war, and 9/11.

Free, registration required | 6-7:30 pm | NYU Center for the Humanities, 20 Cooper Sq, Manhattan

🗣️ MEETUP | Mar 11: Death Cafe

Join St Luke’s, The Reform Temple of Forest Hills, and the death education team of Green-Wood Cemetery for group conversation about grief, loss, and end of life planning.

Free, registration encouraged | 7 pm | St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 85 Greenway South, Queens

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Mar 11: Brenda Navarro, Eating Ashes

The narrator of Navarro’s novel is haunted by her brother’s death and recounts their lives together in a story of migration, alienation, and grief. Navarro will be in conversation with Megan McDowell and Melissa Lozada-Oliva.

From $10.89, advance tickets recommended | 7-8 pm | Books Are Magic, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn

🕯️ GATHERING | Mar 11: Lament, a Lenten Service for Grief

This event at All Angels’ Church includes music, readings, and contemplative space curated by and for the grieving.

Free | 6-7 pm | All Angels’ Church, 251 West 80th Street, Manhattan

🎨 WORKSHOP | Mar 14: Memorial Diorama Workshop

Death and grief doula Lauren Seeley will guide participants in creating small altars or shrines to a beloved person or pet.

$125 | 1-4 pm | Morbid Anatomy Library, 254 36th St 2nd floor, C248, Brooklyn

🤝 WORKSHOP | Mar 14: Facing Mortality Together: Intro to Death Education

This day-long, death education intensive for churches promotes death literacy and examines the landscape of death and dying through the lens of Christian faith traditions and practices.

$135 | 9:30 am-4:30 pm | The HUB NYC, 109 East 31st Street, Manhattan

Later this month

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Mar 18: Jade Song, I Love You Don’t Die

Song’s novel about a death-obsessed young woman in New York City is a lyrical take on love, friendship, debt, depression, and endings. Song will be in conversation with Jiaming Tang.

From $10.89, advance tickets recommended | 7-8 pm | Books Are Magic, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn

🗣️ MEETUP | Mar 22: Dating After Death

Join other NYC singles navigating dating after the death of a partner or spouse. Share stories and get advice and support from a matchmaker and dating coach. Hosted by Toi and Moi Matchmaking.

$12.51 | 11 am-1 pm | Brookfield Place under the palm trees, 230 Vesey Street, Manhattan

📚 BOOK EVENT | Mar 26: JR Pepper, Buried New Orleans

Pepper will give a lecture and sign her book about the iconic cemeteries of New Orleans and the city’s unique funerary landscape.

From $17.85 | 6-8 pm | The Twisted Spine, 306 Grand Street, Brooklyn

📚 MEETUP | Mar 28: Silent Book Club of Death

Read silently about death, grief, and mortality, followed by a game of The Death Deck and discussion.

$5 | 4:30-7 pm | Morbid Anatomy Library, 254 36th St 2nd floor, C248, Brooklyn

Ongoing

🎥 FILM | André is an Idiot

When André Ricciardi is diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer at 52, he decides to document his final journey in absurdist fashion. His documentary won the 2025 Audience Award at Sundance. Opens March 6.

Ticket prices and times vary | Film Forum, 209 West Houston St, Manhattan

🚶🏻‍♂️WALKING TOUR | Death in New York

These extensive tours led by Purefinder trace the story of how death has shaped the infrastructure, values, and rituals of New York City. There’s also a shorter evening edition.

$36-44 | Weekly through May | Departing from 4 Whitehall Street, Manhattan

🗣️ Monthly meetups

These free, ongoing series have an open format and are spaces to find support, be curious, and share experiences. Check the links for all the details.

Mar 2: Grief Support Circle @ QED

$5 café purchase, registration encouraged | 5-6:30 pm | 27-16 23rd Avenue, Astoria

Mar 7: Death Cafe @ New York Public Library

First come, first seated | 3:30-4:30 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Room 304, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

Mar 15: The Open Door Death Cafe @ Creative Mornings

Registration required | 1-2:30 pm | Manhattan, address shared after registration

Mar 16: Brooklyn Mourners Common @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

Registration recommended | 7 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Mar 19: Grieving and Weaving @ Green-Wood Cemetery

Registration required | 6:30-8:30 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Mar 19: Life and Death Discussion Group @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

Registration recommended | 6:30-8:30 pm | 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Mar 23: Death Cafe @ New York Society for Ethical Culture

Registration recommended | 3-4:30 pm | 2 West 64th Street, Manhattan

Mar 26: Legacy League @ End of Life Choices New York

Registration required | 10-11:30am | Pier 57, 25 11th Avenue, Manhattan

Mar 26: Death Cafe @ Green-Wood Cemetery

Registration required | 6:30-8 pm | 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Looking ahead

April 1: The Grief Box Project

Death doula Daphne McWilliams invites people to record a name or story of someone they’ve lost to be sealed in a time capsule until the next century.

Free | 6:30-8:30 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

Double-check event details in case I mistyped anything. If you have questions about an event, contact the organizer.

Endnotes

Thanks so much to everyone who has been supportive of this project. Please send me feedback and also send me events. Some types of events are harder to scour the internet for. I’d love to include more visual art, film, and scholarly talks, and gatherings that support specific types of grief. Séances are not out of the question (if held in a public space). If you’re organizing something, come across something, or know someone I should connect with, message me or use this form to submit an event. Let’s make this thing overstuffed.

We’re off and running with the first issue of NYC Death Dispatch, a guide to local events for the death curious. It’s been fun to discover how much is out there and I’m excited to share 17 opportunities to connect with death this month.

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and there are two events centered on showing your love by making end-of-life plans. There’s no shortage of monthly meetups and book launches. Also: mouse taxidermy. Read on for all the death-y happenings on the horizon.

Happening soon

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Feb 3: Libby Page, This Book Made Me Think of You

Page’s book is about a woman who receives a present from her late husband Joe: a year of books, one per month, with handwritten letters. This event includes a reading and conversation with Saumya Dave.

Free | 8-9 pm | Book Club Bar, 197 East 3rd Street, Manhattan

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Feb 4: Benoît Cohen, Wonderful

Cohen’s memoir about his father’s death and his family’s attempt to help him depart with dignity is an exploration of life, loss and grief. The author will be in conversation with Violette d’Urso and sign books.

Free, reservations encouraged | 6-7:45 pm | Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, Manhattan

📝 WORKSHOP | Feb 4: Date with Death

This workshop is LGBTQ+ centered and welcomes all who want to think seriously about chosen family, legal protections, and how to shape their own ending. Practice hard conversations, learn about end-of-life planning, and leave with resources to get started. Hosted by Life and Soul.

$25, tickets required | 6:30-8:30 | BOYFRIEND Co-op, 1157 Myrtle Ave, Brooklyn

🐭 WORKSHOP | Feb 8: Mouse Taxidermy

Taxidermist Divya Anantharaman will teach students how to prepare a custom made taxidermy mount. You’ll work with professionally cleaned and tanned skins, learn about animal anatomy, and practice different techniques.

$495, registration required | 11 am-5 pm | Private studio in Sunset Park, Brooklyn

📚 BOOK EVENT | Feb 12: Never Can Say Goodbye: A Night of Death & Life

This workshop and conversation centers around Darnell Lamont Walker’s new book, Never Can Say Goodbye: The Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful End. Walker will speak with Sparrow founder Erica Hill and attendees will be guided through writing prompts that encourage them to explore their stories and connect with others.

$28.52 or $44.52 w/ book, registration required | 6:15-9:30 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

🕯️ MEETUP | Feb 16: Challenging Times Grief Circle

This grief circle is a supportive space to hold and express personal and collective grief in a moment when many people feel heavy, uncertain, and stretched thin.

$33, advance tickets recommended | 7 pm | Anima Mundi Apothecary, 31 Noble St, Brooklyn

🎲 MEETUP | Feb 17: Minding Our Mortality Game Night

Here to Honor’s event series Minding Our Mortality is hosting a game night featuring a variety of card and board games with mortality motifs to get people talking and connecting. Food and drinks provided.

Free, suggested donation | 7-9 pm | Neighbor, 176 9th Ave, Manhattan

📚 MEETUP | Feb 22: Silent Book Club of Death

Read and contemplate mortality in the galleries of the Met Cloisters. Following silent reading is a game of The Death Deck and discussion. Bring your own book or read one of the provided ones.

Free with museum admission, registration required | 2-5 pm | Gallery 3, Saint-Guilhem Cloister, 99 Margaret Corbin Dr in Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan

📝 WORKSHOP | Feb 23: End-of-life Planning as an Act of Love

End-of-life planning can be a gift to your loved ones, sparing them from logistical messes while they are experiencing deep grief. Death Project Manager and Postal Service for the Dead co-host this event that helps people get strategic with death prep while reflecting on their own experiences with death.

$10-25 suggested donation, registration required | 6-8 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

📚 BOOK LAUNCH | Feb 24: Virginia Chang, Preparing For End of Life For Dummies

Preparing For End of Life takes a compassionate and practical approach to guiding readers through conversations and decision-making. Chang, a certified end-of-life doula, will be in conversation with Emma Acker of All’s Well Initiative, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Free, registration required | 6-8 pm | Sparrow Funeral Home, 161 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn

🗣️ Monthly meetups

Feb 9: Brooklyn Mourners Common @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

This meetup welcomes anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one to gather in person to share, reflect, process, and find community among people who understand. Facilitated by Jennifer Bleyer, LMSW.

Free, RSVP recommended | 7-8:15 pm | Brooklyn Ethical, 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Feb 14: Death Cafe @ New York Public Library

Death cafes are held around the world and are designed to bring people together to discuss grief, loss, and mortality. There’s no agenda—just free-flowing conversation about death. Death cafes are not grief groups or counseling sessions.

Free | 3:30-4:30 pm | Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Room 304, 455 5th Ave, Manhattan

Feb 18: Grieving and Weaving @ Green-Wood Cemetery

Bring your crafts of choice or join a knitting or crochet tutorial group. This series takes place in the Modern Chapel, and people are encouraged to share stories, skills, and grief resources.

Free, registration required | 6:30-8:30 pm | Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Feb 19: Life and Death Discussion Group @ Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture

People of all ages and backgrounds are welcome to join this open conversation about a topic that’s often hard to face. Expect a safe, supportive space where all thoughts, feelings, and hopes can be shared.

Free, RSVP recommended | 6:30-8:30 pm | Brooklyn Ethical, 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn

Feb 25: Death Cafe @ Green-Wood Cemetery

Death cafes are held around the world and are designed to bring people together to discuss grief, loss, and mortality. There’s no agenda—just free-flowing conversation about death. Death cafes are not grief groups or counseling sessions.

Free, registration required | Green-Wood Cemetery, 500 25th St, Brooklyn

Feb 26: Legacy League @ Dorothy Ross Friedman Residence

Hosted by End of Life Choices New York, this is an agenda-less invitation to hang out and “demystify and de-taboo” death and dying.

Free, registration required | 10-11:30 am | Dorothy Ross Friedman Residence, 475 West 57th Street, Manhattan

Last call

🎭 PLAY | 2nd Stage Theater presents Marjorie Prime

A family drama set in a future where people can interact with digital facsimiles of deceased loved ones. Starring June Squibb, Cynthia Nixon, Danny Burstein, and Christopher Lowell, this New York Times Critic’s Pick closes February 15.

From $59 on TodayTix | Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street, Manhattan

Looking ahead

🎨 WORKSHOP | Mar 14: Memorial Diorama Workshop

Now’s a good time to pick up tickets for this workshop at Morbid Anatomy’s library and shop in Industry City. Death doula Lauren Seeley will help you create small altars or shrines to a beloved person or pet that you’ve lost.

$125 members, $150 general | 1-4 pm | Morbid Anatomy, 254 36th St 2nd floor, C248, Brooklyn

📚 BOOK EVENT | Mar 10: Minding Our Mortality Book Club

Bookish folks should get a jump on reading the club’s latest pick: The Safari Concept: An African Framework for End of Life Care by Christian Ntizimira, MD.

Free, suggested donation | 7-8:30 pm | Neighbor, 176 9th Ave, Manhattan

Double-check event details in case I mistyped anything, and if you have questions about an event, contact the organizer. Have an event to submit? Fill out this form at least a week before the event date.

Endnotes

I wanted to add a plug for the Helene Schjerfbeck painting exhibit at the Met, which is so striking and impressive. While it isn’t explicitly about death, the artist grapples with mortality in a series of self-portraits painted over decades. Her portrayals become more abstract as her style evolves, and towards the end of her life she appears alien-like—bald, pale or greenish, eyes hollowed out, face fading into the background. She’s a star in her native Scandinavia but relatively unknown here. It’s on view through April 5.

If you’ve read this far, you’re my favorite person. Hope to see you out there.

On February 1, I’ll share the first edition of the NYC Death Dispatch, a roundup of local events that allow people to engage with death in a variety of ways. Think death cafes, book events, death education and workshops, art and plays that tackle mortality and grief, talks and tours, and monthly discussion groups.

There are many wonderful events happening online, but I’m focusing on in-person events so that people can get outside to learn, contemplate, and find community. I hope that the opportunities in this newsletter help people, including myself, have more open and honest conversations about death, and normalize talking about it. That’s the cornerstone of the death curious and death positive movements: it’s not morbid or taboo to address these topics, and doing so will legitimately improve society.

The events in this newsletter are as diverse as New York City, and despite being related to death, none of them are inherently gloomy. Pre-planning a lively funeral, sharing a funny story about a loved one in a grief group, going to a death-themed comedy show—there’s room for levity everywhere, and always room for compassion. Death connects us all and we might as well acknowledge it.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this newsletter—and all of our relationships with death—evolves over time. I hope you’ll subscribe, tell a friend, go to an event, and stay death curious.