There are new reading recs by yours truly up today on The Shepherd! This list is for all you parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and caregivers who need to have hard conversations with little ones about pets dying. I was inspired to pitch a list of my own after reading my friend Tove Danovich’s list of books about animals that help us understand ourselves better.

If you haven’t checked it out before, The Shepherd is a really cool website to find books to read! Authors recommend lists of their favorite based on different themes, and you can sort bookshelves based on topics such as “dog books” or “books about death.” Check it out!

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I am thrilled to share I have a new essay published in Off Assignment as part of their Letter to a Stranger series. Read “To the Iditarod Man” here, and also check out my “Behind the Essay” interview for the Off Assignment newsletter as well! Thank you so much to editors Colleen Kinder and Aube Rey Lescure for giving this essay a home.

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I am over the moon to have Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter featured in The Boston Globe: “In new book, local author explores loving and losing our beloved pets.”

Thank you to Globe reporter Cindy Cantrell for attending my Tewksbury Public Library talk and being inspired to write the story, and to photographer Jonathan Wiggs for taking such an amazing portrait of me, Terrence, and Seymour!

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I am so honored to announce that I have been chosen to be the Roslindale Book Ambassador for September & October 2022!!! You can check out my list of recommended reading on Rozzie Bound Co-op’s Bookshop.org page, and on Thursday 10/27 at 6pm EDT I will be giving an author talk at the Roslindale branch of the Boston Public Library. Thank you for choosing me, Rozzie!!!

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I can’t believe it has been a month. It both flew by and also felt like the longest month of my life. More below on everything that has happened since 8/2! But thank you to everyone who preordered the book, purchased the book once it was out, showed up at an event either virtually or in-person, posted about Good Grief on social media, texted my mom when they heard me on NPR, snapped a photo when they spotted Good Grief  “in the wild” (please NEVER STOP sending me pictures when you see Good Grief in bookstores or libraries, it makes me so happy), and/or sent me an email, DM, text, or other kind of message about how much the book meant to them. All I can say is I have been completely overwhelmed in the best possible way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So much has happened since Good Grief came out on 8/2. First, here is a list of all the wonderful interviews, essays, media coverage, reviews, etc. that have come out in the past month. Seriously, it has only been a month???? How????

• Good Grief has been reviewed favorably in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, The Wellesley News, Booklist, and The Washington Independent Review of Books.
• Good Grief was recommended in reading lists from Book Riot, Literary Hub, Wellesley Magazine, and the New Castle Public Library, plus veterinarian Karen Fine includes Good Grief in the list of pet loss resources on her website.
• You can read an excerpt of Good Grief on Literary Hub!
• The 8/2 Good Grief launch event got a shout-out in the Boston Globe!
• I got to speak about Good Grief on several different podcasts including Library Love Fest (in conversation with Ivy Givens), Writer’s Bone (in conversation with Daniel Ford and Kelly J. Ford, who are not related), Debut Spotlight (in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum), and Dog Talk (in conversation with Tracie Hotchner a.k.a. the Radio Pet Lady).
• My essay “The Heart of a Professor” (about the way one of my college professors showed me great empathy when I had to euthanize my childhood dog Gus)as the Endnotes essay in the summer 2022 issue of Wellesley Magazine.
• Good Grief got a write-up in my hometown local newspaper, The Lexington Minuteman!
• “Ashes to Ashes, Pet to Plant” is my essay for Slate’s Future Tense series about the new industry of pet composting. Thanks to editor Jaime Green for her wise feedback on that piece!
• I was interviewed by the great biologist Marc Bekoff for Psychology Today!
• I also did an interview for AKC.org! Thanks to journalist Ranny Green for taking the time to speak with me for it.
• My essay about #MassAveLola ran on Cognoscenti. Thank you to editor Sara Shukla for giving Lola a home on WBUR!
• I also had an essay about learning to love and let go when it comes to pet pigeons run on Salon!
• The legendary Chewy.com featured Good Grief on their blog Be.Chewy. Thanks to journalist Alyssa Sparacino for writing the piece, and to Lindsey Bluher for getting it set up in the first place, which is full of really helpful concrete tips if you are going through pet loss. It’s a great resource!
• Nicole Graev Lipson took the time to talk to me about Good Grief for the Chicago Review of Books! Thank you, Nicole!
• The Noble & Greenough School, my high school alma mater and former employer, featured Good Grief in the summer issue of their alumni magazine, complete with gorgeous illustrations by John Jay Cabuay.
• The tables turned and Fiction Advocate editor Brian Hurley interviewed me for the August installment of Non-Fiction by Non-Men!
• And Good Grief was featured on NPR’s Here & Now! I got to go into the WBUR studios for my interview with Peter O’Dowd (see above). It was like doing college radio on steroids. My years of WZLY prepared me for this!!!!

In the past month, I did eleven Good Grief events: nine were in person, two were virtual, five were in Massachusetts, one was in New Hampshire, and three were in California. They were hosted by six different indie bookstores (Porter Square Books, Once Upon A Time Bookstore, Toadstool Bookshop, Newtonville Books, Tatnuck Bookseller, and An Unlikely Story), one library (Tewksbury Public), two organizations (The Order of the Good Death and the Wellesley College Club of Los Angeles), one book club (People Who Read Darkness!), and one oddities shop (Memento Mori Los Angeles). I got to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford, Cat Warren, Sy Montgomery, Chloe Shaw, and Karen Fine. I got to see SO many people I love who came out to support me — far too many to name here, though special shout-outs go to Rachel Barenbaum (for the beautiful introduction at my launch), Erin Greene (who traveled up from NYC to be there on 8/2), Lee Ung (for attending every single one of my West Coast events), Karen and Rich Bartels (for attending almost every single one of my East Coast events, and, in their defense, they would have been at every one but I told them to skip 8/24 because they were tired), and the great Richie Corrado (for his toast at my launch that made everyone cry). If you missed any of these events and are bummed about it, don’t worry! There are recordings of several of them:

• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/2 launch at GrubStreet / Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, in conversation with Kelly J. Ford.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/17 virtual event with the Tewksbury Public Library, in conversation Chloe Shaw.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/24 event at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA.
• Plus a recording of my 8/3 conversation with Cat Warren is available to members of The Order of the Good Death, so become a member today to watch!

But don’t worry!!! I am totally exhausted but that doesn’t mean I don’t have MORE great things planned for September, October, and beyond! Below is a list of all my upcoming events, and be sure to keep checking the events page on my website for the most up-to-date into. (I promise the page will load now! I know there was a bug before, sorry!) All of the below events are in-person unless they are labeled ***VIRTUAL***.

SEPTEMBER:

• TOMORROW!!!!!! Saturday 9/3, 3:00pm EDT: Homecoming event at the Fishers Island Library on Fishers Island, NY!
• Wednesday 9/7, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford for the launch of her second novel Real Bad Things at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA!
• Tuesday 9/13, 6:30pm EDT: Author event at Gibson’s in Concord, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Thursday 9/15, 5:00pm EDT: Local Author Book Fair at new indie bookstore Hummingbird Books in Chestnut Hill, MA!
• Sunday 9/18, 4:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** author talk with the Perfect Paws Pet Ministry!
• Tuesday 9/20, 7:00pm EDT: Author event at Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Wednesday 9/21, 7:00pm EDT: Atomic Anna x Good Grief event at Belmont Books in Belmont, MA, where I’ll be in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum!
• Monday 9/26, 7:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** event with Morbid Anatomy, in conversation with Annie Hartnett! Click here to register.
• Wednesday 9/28, 8:00am EDT: Presentation in assembly at the Noble & Greenough School, followed by a guided tour of the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery!
• Thursday 9/29, 7:00pm EDT: Part of the Books and Buzz series at Brewster Book Store on the Cape (fundraiser for the Animal Rescue League of Boston)!

OCTOBER:

• Tuesday 10/4, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Rita Zoey Chin for the launch of her debut novel The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern at Wellesley Books in Wellesley, MA!
• Thursday 10/6, 12:30pm EDT: Visit to professor Christine Carpenter‘s class “The Power of Pets” at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire!
• Thursday 10/20, 8:00pm EDT: “Burgers & Books” party at Tasty Burger in Harvard Square celebrating four GrubStreet authors with 2022 books: Neema Avashia, Rachel Barenbaum, Kelly J. Ford, and me!
• Thursday 10/27, 6:00pm EDT: I’m honored to share that I’ve been chosen to be the Roslindale Book Ambassador for September + October 2022! On this Thursday, I will have a “Conversation with the Author” event from 6:00pm-7:00pm, followed by a book signing from 7:00pm-7:30pm, at the Roslindale Branch of the Boston Public Library.
• Sunday 10/30, 1:00pm EDT: Session on “Writing Collections: Short Stories and Essays” with Thomas McNeely as part of the Concord Festival of Authors, at the Concord Free Public Library.

NOVEMBER:

• Thursday 11/3, 7:00pm EDT: Book event in New York City at McNally Jackson’s Seaport location (4 Fulton Street)! I will be in conversation with the artist Heide Hatry, and a reception will follow at McNally Jackson Seaport’s new snazzy cocktail bar!

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I got to write a feature story profiling conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson ’93!

I had my first ever photo credit with a shot I took on Marathon Monday! 

Good Grief got a mention in the Fresh Ink section! (Right next to my friend Shelly!)

And I had the honor of writing the Endnote essay which is, unsurprisingly, about pet death. Enjoy!

The post The summer 2022 issue of Wellesley magazine is live! appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

FUN FACT 2: Today through 4/22 on the Barnes & Noble website you can get 25% off preorders (use code PREORDER25) so it’s a GREAT time to order GOOD GRIEF!

As incentive to preorder, here is a photo from said birthday party. I am wearing an XL lavender sweatshirt that says BOOK GODDESS on it that I desperately wish I still owned:

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And bonus content: Little E.B. and Little Richie with said dead dogs! From left to right: Gus, Gwen, and Cocoa. RIP.

The post Dead Dog Love Story in Thimble Lit Mag! appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

—

My girl Wanda the betta fish (RIP) finally gets the obituary she deserves in the winter 2020 issue of Wellesley Magazine. Writing this piece for the Endnotes section was really fun. Well, as fun as writing about murdering your fish can be.

Thank you to Alice M. Hummer, Lisa Scanlon Mogolov, and Catherine Grace for publishing my essay!

Thank you to my first-year roommate and BFF Lee Hanae Ung for living through the experience and still being my friend!

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On January 30, I sold my book Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt! My editor is the wonderful Naomi Gibbs, known for editing many incredible books, including some of my favorites from the past couple years: Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee, Tango Lessons: A Memoir by Meghan Flaherty, and After the Eclipse: A Mother’s Murder, a Daughter’s Search by Sarah Perry. A publication date is not set yet (likely sometime in 2021) but the one thing I know for certain now is I have to turn in a complete draft of the book by the end of January 2020. HERE WE GO!

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