Heather Lende, left, read excerpts from "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name," her book about writing obituaries for a community newspaper in small town Alaska, at the May 2008 workshop for professional obituary writers at The Oregonian.

Shown on this page are books written by members of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers, books about obit writers and obit writing, obit anthologies and other obit-, death- and journalism-related books that are available in bookstores and at online bookstores.

In "The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries," Marilyn Johnson shares her love of well-written, sometimes quirky obituaries and offers stories about the writing styles and personalities of the many obituary writers she has met.

 

"Obit: Inspiring Stories of Ordinary People Who Lived Extraordinary Lives" is an anthology of feature obituaries that Jim Sheeler wrote for The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News.

In "Life After Death," Nigel Starck, an Australian university professor, writes about the history and styles of obituaries in Australia, United Kingdom and United States.

 

Heather Lende's "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name" illustrates life and death in a remote Alaskan town.

 

"Life on the Death Beat: A Handbook for Obituary Writers," written by Alana Baranick of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Stephen Miller of the New York Sun and Wall Street Journal and Jim Sheeler, who has left reporting for academia, offers an obit-writer's perspective of obit-writing basics.

 

"Final Salute" grew out of Jim Sheeler's Pulitzer Prize winning feature about the Marines who inform military families of combat deaths.

"Inside Reporting" by Tim Harrower is a basic journalism textbook that includes a section on obituary writing.

"Best Newspaper Writing of 2005" features obituaries and obit-writing philosophies of Alana Baranick of The Plain Delaer, winner of the 2005 American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for obituary writing and finalists Adam Bernstein of The Washington Post and Margalit Fox of The New York Times.

Larken Bradley, obit writer for the West Marin Citizen, penned profiles of citizens in Marin County, Calif., while those people were alive.

Gerry Hostetler, obituary columnist for The Charlotte Observer, penned "Banner Days" with Penny Banner, the lady wrestler who dated Elvis.