How Do You Tell the Story of a Life?

Join us this Monday, May 4 for a live conversation with New York Times staff writer Michael Rosenwald on the art of writing obituaries.

In the 2005 romantic comedy Rumor Has It, Jennifer Aniston’s lead character is stuck—in life, love and work. Her uninspiring, dead-end job? Obituary writer at The New York Times. I remember seeing a clip of the film at the time and thinking, “are you kidding me? That is a dream job!” I have never understood why people think of obituary writing as morbid or dull. What could be more dramatic, human and inspiring than telling distinguished life stories? Probably the best obit writing out there is at the Times, where each story is basically a fascinating mini-biography.

For our next Open Book live video conversation, Lee Gutkind will be chatting with Michael Rosenwald, a staff writer on the obituary desk at The New York Times. Lee will talk with Michael about the craft of obituary writing—how he decides what to include, what to leave out, and how this work shapes the way we think about narrative, memory, and meaning. This should be a fascinating conversation for anyone working on profiles …