Talks & Entertainment

Talking about death and grief can be challenging. We’re awkward and uncertain; we avoid feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes and send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit. At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags and receive automated birthday reminders for deceased friends, it’s clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map.

Inspired by the Modern Loss website, which the New York Times hailed as “redefining mourning,” Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome. is a fresh examination into navigating grief and resilience in the age of social media. Through essays from a variety of voices, Modern Loss offers comfort and community for those coping with the mess of loss.

Modern Loss co-founders Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner each lost parents as young adults. They co-founded Modern Loss to normalize the conversation around death and grief and offer resources and an essential message of resilience and hope.

More than forty contributors—including Lucy Kalanithi (widow of When Breath Becomes Air author Paul Kalanithi), stylist Stacy London, and singer Amanda Palmer—reflect on triggers, sex, secrets, technology, inheritance, and more. In conversation with Marisa Lee, a social entrepreneur and former director of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance. Book signing to follow.