Death-positivity activist and mortician Caitlin Doughty shares her recommendations for our toolkit feature–ways to learn more and stay connected to the conversation—three people to follow, three things to read, and three organizations to check out and support.

PEOPLE TO FOLLOW

1) Death in the Afternoon podcast co-host and Order of the Good Death director Sarah Chavez

2) Landis Blair, Author of The Envious Siblings & Other Morbid Nursery Rhymes

3) Resting Waters, Seattle’s Pet Funeral Home offering eco-responsible cremation choices

BOOKS TO READ

1) Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death by Bernd Heinrich

2) Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

3) Tomb Song: A Novel by Julián Herbert

ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT

1) The Collective for Radical Death Studies: an international, professional organization formed to decolonize Death Studies and radicalize death practice

2) Colibri Center For Human Rights: identifies human remains on the US-Mexico border through comprehensive forensic research and reliable data on missing persons

3) Recompose: offers an alternative choice to cremation and conventional burial methods

Caitlin Doughty is a mortician, activist, and funeral industry rabble-rouser. In 2011 she founded the death acceptance collective The Order of the Good Death, which has spawned the death positive movement. Her books Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity were both New York Times bestsellers. She lives in Los Angeles, where she runs her funeral home. Learn more about Caitlin.

Header photo credit: Aaron Burden

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