Making Friends with Death, A Field Guide for Your Impending Last Breath...a reading and "death prep cram session" based on Laura Pritchett’s upcoming TEDx talk!

Award-winning author Laura Pritchett returns with her newest book, Making Friends with Death, A Field Guide for Your Impending Last Breath (to be read, ideally, before it’s imminent). Pritchett, well known for her novels set in the contemporary West, leaps into new and exciting territory with this nonfiction/guidebook that’s designed to get us all thinking about the inevitable—even when (and especially when) we’re young, healthy, and not under duress.

The evening will include a short activity designed to jumpstart your exploration into making friends with the not-so-grim Grim Reaper. She broaches the sacred and the scary with warmth, humor and a few wisdoms gleaned from years of research. You’ll leave thinking of death as more of a potential friend rather than a spooky stranger. And since we can “use death as our advisor,” it might offer a few nuggets on living our best and brightest life, too. We can nearly guarantee that you’ll find yourself laughing, even as you contemplate your own (yes, let’s face it!) death.

About the author
Laura Pritchett is the award-winning author of 10 books. She began her writing journey with the short story collection Hell's Bottom, Colorado, which won the PEN USA Award for Fiction and the Milkweed National Fiction Prize. This was followed by the novels Sky Bridge, Stars Go Blue, Red Lightning and last year's much acclaimed The Blue Hour. She’s also editor of three anthologies: Pulse of the River, Home Land, and Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers. She has two nonfiction books: Great Colorado Bear Stories and Making Friends with Death. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, O Magazine, Salon, High Country News, The Sun, Brain, Child, and many others. She holds a PhD from Purdue University and teaches around the country.

This community talk is free.

About the Library Author Series
Bud Werner Memorial Library presents an ongoing program of author talks throughout the year. These are free community events held in Library Hall, where a diverse award-winning range of visiting authors speak about their literary works and their writing processes. Each talk is followed by a Q&A and an opportunity to have authors sign copies of their books.

Books will be available for sale and author signing courtesy of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore.