What About Death!?

In the final episode of the third season of What About Death!?, Tsultrim continues her conversation with award-winning Australian author and journalist, Trent Dalton. Trent shares the different ways love and grief intersect in his books: from the love stories people told him on the streets of Brisbane, to the journalist's "death knock" that inspired his most recent novel Gravity Lets Me Go. Trent...

In today's episode, Tsultrim is joined by best-selling Australian author, Trent Dalton. Trent discusses his debut novel, Boy Swallows Universe , and how his personal experiences with grief helped to shape his characters and the world they inhabit. Trent also talks about his late dad Noel, who inspired parts of the book, and how the novel's success and subsequent adaptations help him to process his...

In today's episode, Tsultrim is joined by Kyle Sherwood, a third-generation mortician and co-founder of the business Save My Ink Forever. Alongside his dad Michael, Kyle offers a unique service that preserves tattoos as a piece of art after a person has passed away. Kyle talks about how the business was created, and why the deeply personal nature of a person's tattoos can create a thoughtful, spec...

In today's episode, Tsultrim speaks to Roshi Joan Halifax, a Zen Buddhist teacher from the Upaya Zen Center in New Mexico. Roshi Joan talks to Tsultrim about her extensive work in death and dying, and grief and loss. In particular, she highlights her work in educating clinicians and other people in the community on how to support people living with a life-limiting or terminal illness. She also sha...

In today's episode, Tsultrim speaks to Kate Folb (Director, Hollywood, Health & Society) and Erica Rosenthal (Director of Research, Media Impact Project) from the Norman Lear Center. The Lear Center is an initiative of the University of Southern California, and explores the social, political, economic, and cultural impact of entertainment. Kate and Erica share how they connect Hollywood studio...

In today's episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim continues her conversation with author Sam Fern. They discuss the process of writing his second book, Where the Dead Lives, a vividly illustrated exploration of world cultures and the way people mourn, grieve, and remember their dead. Sam also discusses the audience he hoped his books would find, and how writing about death and grief has shaped h...

In today's episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim speaks to Sam Fern, an author based in the United Kingdom. Sam has published two books for children, Escape Castle Dracula and Where the Dead Live . His work explores gothic literature and world cultures, and what they can teach us about death, grief and loss. He joins the podcast to discuss how he researched and developed his work, and what writ...

In today's episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim speaks with artist and video game developer Gabby DaRienzo. Gabby's work, including the games A Mortician's Tale and Seasonala Cemetery , explore the intersection between death, grief, and video games. Gabby shares what the process of creating a game is like, and how her personal experiences with death and grief shaped their development.   Follow...

In today's episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim speaks with Aaron Watkin, a Sunshine Coast-based mortician. Aaron explains how he first started working in the death industry, and what motivates him to continue in this space. He also talks about the details of his role, from what his average day as a mortician looks like to how he handles misconceptions and stereotypes. What About Death!? is ho...

In today's episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim speaks with Leah Cotterell and Narelle McCoy. Together they form a unique musical duo, drawing on a combination of academic research, personal experience, and cultural traditions. Their performances, described as both heartwarming and surprisingly hilarious, include the captivating titles 'Whistling Past the Graveyard' and 'Confessions of a Funer...

On today's episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim continues her conversation with Australian author, screenwriter, and journalist Benjamin Law. They continue talking about Ben's most recent stageplay, an adaptation of Cory Taylor's memoir Dying. Ben also talks about the importance of culture in understanding death and dying and how his own Chinese heritage influenced his understand of life, deat...

In the first episode of What About Death!? Season 3, Tsultrim speaks with Australian author, screenwriter, and journalist Benjamin Law. They discuss how Ben adapted his good friend Cory Taylor’s critically acclaimed book, Dying: A Memoir, into a stage play . Ben takes us through the process of bringing the book to the stage, how audiences reacted, and why he thinks it is important to discuss death...

We're delighted to welcome you back for Season 3 of Karuna's What About Death!? podcast.  Hosted by Venerable Tsultrim, this season continues to gently challenge fear and stigma surrounding death, dying, grief and loss. Grounded in the understanding that life and death are not opposites but part of one continuing journey, Season 3 invites listeners to explore the circle of life through thoughtful...

In this episode, Tsultrim speaks with Linda Ward, a Pagan Elder and member of Pagan Hearth Incorporated in Queensland, Australia. Linda explains what Celtic Paganism is and how its belief in the cycle of birth, growth, death and rebirth can bring comfort at the time of death.  Linda tells how their view of death is part of a continuous cycle of life and is not something that ends in oblivion and t...

In today’s episode, Tsultrim speaks with Simon Lowe, the creator of a fabulous card game called “Carked It!”.  Simon developed this, at times, very funny card game as a way of connecting people and opening the door to friends, family and even strangers, to talking about life, death and beyond in a light-hearted, fun, and positive way. As we all know, death is certain, but the manner and time of ou...

Today's episode is a continuation of Tsultrim's conversation with Dr. Pema on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, how we can apply some of its techniques to our daily lives as a way of living our best life and how it can help us to prepare for when death comes.  Pema tells us more about impermanence, rebirth and the type of meditation encouraged by Padmasambhava, the author of this profound and ancient...

On today’s episode Tsultrim is pleased to welcome Dr. Pema Düddul back to the podcast to talk about his recently released book “Luminous Awareness – A Guidebook to Natural Awakening in Life and Death”. This book is a guide to understanding the profound work called The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) which was taught by Padmasambhava many hundreds of years ago in Tibet. It guides us through...

On today's episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim speaks with Dr Libby Sallnow, a palliative care consultant and researcher from London in the UK. Dr Sallnow has been a leader in developing social and public health approaches to death, dying and loss for over two decades and she was recently the first author of the Lancet Commission "The Value of Death: Bringing Death Back into Life." This fasci...

In today’s episode of What About Death!?, Tsultrim speaks with Dr Pema Düddul, a Director at Pristine Awareness: Foundation for Buddhist Practice and an internationally recognised Buddhist teacher in the Tibetan tradition. Pema is also recently retired from his position as the Associate Professor of Writing, Editing and Publishing at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba. Pema has a w...

In today’s episode, Tsultrim speaks with Dr Mary-Frances O’Connor, author of the fascinating book “The Grieving Brain – The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss”. Dr O’Connor is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona where she directs The Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab, investigating the effects of grief on the brain and the body.  Dr O’Connor...

In today’s episode, Tsultrim speaks with UK-based writer, journalist and broadcaster Hayley Campbell about her new book “All the Living and the Dead”. This compelling and heartfelt book explores the death industry and those who work in it, as Hayley strives to answer her own questions about death and better understand society's attitudes towards the topic. Her research leads her to share conversat...

In today’s episode of What about Death!? , Tsultrim speaks with Australian Clinical Psychologist Rachel Menzies. Rachel has extensively researched how the fear of death affects mental illness.  She tells us about the causes and contributing factors to experiencing death anxiety and what treatments and strategies can help to reduce that fear. Rachel is the director of the Menzies Anxiety Centre in...

In this episode of What About Death!? , Tsultrim speaks with internationally acclaimed and best selling author, Markus Zusak about his hugely successful novel The Book Thief which has been translated into more than 40 languages, and spent 500 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. Markus explains how “Death” became one of the main characters of this beautiful book and how he created and deve...

In the first episode of Season 2, Tsultrim speaks with Markus Zusak, the award-winning Australian author of the internationally best-selling novel " The Book Thief". Famously narrated by death, " The Book Thief" explores themes of death, grief, community and love against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Germany during World War II. Tsultrim discusses the way Markus constructed his characters, especia...

What About Death!? returns for a new season of discussing the many and varied experiences and perceptions of dying and death. Join us fortnightly from Monday, March 20 as our host Tsultrim, an Australian nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, shares the answers to the questions you wanted to know about death... but were afraid to ask! What About Death!? is brought to you by karuna.org.au and hoste...