Writing Workshop: Author Amy Shea, "Too Poor to Die"

Darien Library and the Connecticut Death Collective welcome Amy Shea, essayist and author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins. 

Inspired by the classic imagery of the dance with death (a memento mori) —artworks that depict skeletons leading people from every station of life into the grave—Amy will guide participants through writing prompts and exercises that open space for reflection and creativity. 

Attendees will generate their own short pieces of poetry or prose in response to the images, using writing as a way to explore inequities in death and dying, and to consider how art can help us give language to the unspoken.

About the Book

Death may be the great equalizer, but not all deaths are created equal. When someone dies indigent, homeless, disenfranchised from society, or without family or friends, there may be no easy path to resting in peace. With over half a million people experiencing homelessness in the US. Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins, a collection of closely connected essays, takes the reader on a journey into what happens to those who die while experiencing homelessness or who end up indigent or unclaimed at the end of life.

Too Poor to Die bears witness to the disparities in death and dying faced by some of society’s most vulnerable and marginalized and asks the reader to consider their own end-of-life and disposition plans within the larger context of how privilege and access plays a role in what we want versus what we get in death.

About Amy Shea

Amy Shea is an essayist and is the author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins. Her work has appeared in The Missouri Review, Pangyrus, Portland Review, The Massachusetts Review, Spry Literary Journal, Fat City Review, From Glasgow to Saturn, & the Journal of Sociology of Health & Illness. She works as the Writing Program Director for Mount Tamalpais College, a free community college for the incarcerated people of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.

About Kate Bagnati

Kate Bagnati is an End-of-Life Life Doula. Wife and mother of three, she is the events and social media coordinator for the Connecticut Death Collective and JumpSTARs. Originally from Geneva, New York, she has been living in Connecticut since 2004. In her spare time, she enjoys being in nature, creating art, gardening, birding, swimming, and dancing Bollywood. 

Having end-of-life conversations, providing information and education while we are still alive, is her passion. There is a great need to empower fellow humans to make their own choices so they can feel safe and supported in their end of days. Time is fleeting, she’d like to spend the rest of hers making connections, growing community, and holding space for others in great times of transition.

In the spirit of collective care, Amy will be accepting donations of new, packaged, adult-sized socks for Open Doors, Norwalk, a local organization providing shelter and services to individuals experiencing homelessness.

Books, courtesy of Barrett Bookstore, will be available for purchase at the event.