DeathWrites Network (2022-2024)  

This Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded Network is called COVID as Catalyst for Writing and Discussing Death, Dying and Grief through Objects, Diaries and Collective Archives. The Network is developing and supporting 30 Scotland-based writers from across disciplines and genres to write and publish powerful, accessible work.

DeathWrites started at the University of Glasgow in 2017 with a series of reading and writing workshops. Since then, the team have held a number of public symposia to act as catalyst to writing on dying, death and grief.

The Network is supported by RSE, The University of Glasgow Arts Lab and the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group.

Click here to find out more about the Network
Read about past and upcoming Network events

12 September 2023

In this longer reflection on grief, love, and writing, network member Lucy Christopher takes us through the process of writing about her late father’s experience of schizophrenia, using his own words from his self-published memoir.

When I told my brother I was going to write a book about our Dad, incorporating writing from Dad’s own memoir Love and Schizophrenia, he suggested I might want to access some therapy to help with the process. “Nah.” I dismissed the idea. I don’t actually find this stuff very upsetting, I told him confidently... Click here to read more

 29 June 2023

Writer Ioulia Kolovou takes us on a journey of grief’s etymologies and mythologies, both personal and classical.

The 5th of September may fall on a different season each year. Sometimes it is still summer, all big blue skies and white clouds; cyclists and dog walkers on the path by the north bank of the River Tweed; air ringing with laughter and children’s shrieks from the play parks; swans barging down the river, majestic, unhurried. But sometimes it is already autumn.... Click here to read more

17 May 2023

As part of his project ‘The Lonely Funeral’, Andy Jackson explores the role of the poet as both eulogiser and witness.

The Lonely Funeral is an initiative aimed at providing a poem to be read at funerals where the deceased has no family or friends present. On the surface the project addresses grief and loss, but it is also concerned with isolation and loneliness. The project uses poetry to celebrate the lives of people whose death goes almost unnoticed... Click here to read more

Sean Wai Keung: On Dying to Eat: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Food, Death and the Afterlife (ed. by Candi K. Cann)

12 April 2023

In this short review essay, Sean Wai Keung sets out some of the interrelations between food rituals, death, eating and grieving.

If life can be defined as a state of constant consumption cycles (energy comes in, energy goes out, etc.) then death can also be defined as a state of non-consumption and stillness. It's only after we're dead that we no longer need to take in any energy, after all. In part because of this, eating and food come to define so much of our lives... Click here to read more

29 March 2023

For our first member blog post, Charlotte Luke reflects on how her writing process has transformed during her time with the DeathWrites Network

Last year, around 8 months after my dad died in a hillwalking accident, I heard about the DeathWrites Network, a group of writers tackling the subjects of death, dying and bereavement in their work. I applied to be part of the group, finding the idea of meeting other people who were in the same or a similar boat very appealing... Click here to read more

Network Organisers

Click on the names for more information

Dr Elizabeth Reeder Principal Investigator

Dr Amy Shea Co-Investigator

Dr Naomi Richards Co-Investigator

Niamh Gordon Research Assistant

Carrie Foulkes Research Assistant

Pictured: Dr Amy Shea, Dr Elizabeth Reeder
and Dr Naomi Richards