E.B.'s Notes & News: All Souls' Day 🎃🖤🪦💀⚰️⚱️🐺☠️🧡👻
Who else has been thinking about their dead pets this weekend?
If you’re at all like me, you probably spent some time this weekend thinking about the dead. Between Halloween, All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, and Día de Muertos, this is the time of the year to reflect on our loved ones who are no longer on this earthly plane. And when I say “loved ones” you know I don’t just mean people. (There was even a Washington Post article last week about how it’s becoming more common for people to honor their pets on Day of the Dead with ofrendas. Thanks for sending it to me, Dad!)
So, this seemed like the perfect time to email out a *~*~*special edition*~*~* mini newsletter with a couple announcements and reminders about your favorite book about dead pets, which will be out in paperback in less than ten days (!!!!).
Scroll down for more!
xoxo,
E.B.
Paperback Notes & News:
They’re here! They’re here! I got my box of gratis copies of the Good Grief paperback from HarperCollins and omg they look SO GOOD. You all are going to love them. Honestly, I think the paperback is going to make an even better present for friends and family who are mourning their pets — it’s a little smaller, seems less intimidating to read, it has a soft matte cover. It feels like a warm hug. I’m so happy they’re going to be in your hands so soon!
I hope you’ve already preordered your copy! If you have preordered, reply to this newsletter and let me know and I’ll send you some special limited edition Good Grief swag as a thank you! Haven’t preordered yet but have been meaning to? If you preorder a paperback copy of Good Grief from Newtonville Books (and you can choose to have it shipped or you can pick it up in person) and leave a note in the “order comments” section saying what you’d like me to write, I will inscribe your copy to you or the person of your choice in memory of a beloved pet PLUS I will also send you some special limited edition Good Grief swag!
Documentary Notes & News:
Oh, what’s this, did my friend, the incredibly talented filmmaker Amber Celletti, make a short documentary film about me and Good Grief in honor of the forthcoming paperback release? I don’t know, you tell me! You can watch it below, on YouTube, or, even better, come to the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Boston Open Screen event on Tuesday, November 11th (paperback pub day!) to see it on the big screen!
Events Notes & News:
I have a whole bunch of events coming up in the next six-ish weeks, so I hope to see you at one! In particular, please note that the link to get tickets to my November 15th turtle-themed paperback launch party event is now live on the West Newton Cinema website. Tickets are $15 and are a fundraiser for the Turtle Survival Alliance. Also, yes, kids are more than welcome at this event! That’s why it runs 11:00am to 1:30pm (before afternoon nap time) and why I am bringing Terrence and Twyla with me. It’s going to be SO MUCH FUN.
—> Saturday 11/8/25, 6:00pm-9:00pm: The Head of Circulation and Adult Services at the Holliston Public Library, Taylor Hodge, reached out to me to ask if I’d be part of the library’s second annual Local Author Expo, and you know that there is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for a librarian, so obviously I said yes. Then imagine my delight when I saw that my pal Theresa Okokon would also be part of the event! Plus, get this: even though the expo is three days before the official paperback pub date, I got permission from HarperCollins to sell paperbacks of Good Grief at this event — so come to Holliston on November 8th if you want an early paperback! Click here for more information about this event.
—> Tuesday 11/11/25, 7:00pm-9:00pm: If you’d like to see Amber Celletti’s short documentary about me and my book on the big screen (!!!) head over to the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s Boston Open Screen event. What a perfect way to celebrate Good Grief’s paperback pub day!
—> Saturday 11/15/25, 11:00am-1:30pm: This is my official paperback launch party and it’s going to be a turtle-y terrific event featuring Sy Montgomery and her new picture book, The True and Lucky Life of a Turtle. The event will be organized by Newtonville Books and hosted at the West Newton Cinema (if my name ends up on the marquee my high school self will absolutely die from joy) and it will feature a meet-and-greet with the famous Terrence and Twyla, author presentations followed by a Q&A with me and Sy, a silent auction fundraiser for Turtle Survival Alliance, and a screening of a documentary about turtles! Click here to buy your tickets for this event!
—> Wednesday 11/19/25, 7:00pm-8:00pm: A literally awesome literary animal conversation with Sangamithra Iyer, author of Governing Bodies: A Memoir, A Confluence, A Watershed, which is coming out on 11/4/25! We’ll be at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition (in the Seaport!) and can’t wait to see you there! The last time Sangu and I were in conversation together was at the Boston Book Festival in 2019 a.k.a. another life. Click here for more information about this event.
—> Saturday 11/22/25, 1:00pm-2:30pm: This event will be a doggone delight! I’ll be in conversation with Karen Fine, author of The Other Family Doctor, and Ellen Finnie, author of The Ten Perfections: Spiritual Lessons from a Life with Dogs at Tatnuck Bookseller in Westborough, where we will talk about the great canine loves of our lives.
—> Saturday 12/20/25, 1:00pm-2:30pm: An author meet-and-greet and book signing with yours truly at Rozzie Bound Co-op in Roslindale! Come by and say hello and get a signed copy of Good Grief to give as a last minute Christmas gift!
Halloween Notes & News:
Finally, I had to share — look at Luca’s Halloween costume!!!
Luca was the cutest little United States Postal Service mail carrier and he had a blast going trick or treating for the first time. We hit up approximately five houses on our block and then went home, but he did great! Luca especially enjoyed placing pieces of candy in his mail bag.)
And, yes, I did order his costume from the official USPS website.
The books next to the pumpkins and the dog skeleton... too perfect. They look SO GOOD. (And I can't wait to have strong enough signal to watch this documentary?!)