In person: Rebecca Spiegel with Chris Stedman

Please join Milkweed Editions as we welcome our author REBECCA SPIEGEL to Minneapolis to read from her book Without Her: A Chronicle of Grief and Love. She will be joined in conversation by CHRIS STEDMAN, a writer, activist, and professor.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Rebecca Spiegel is working as a teacher in New Orleans when she learns of her sister’s suicide. Only after the funeral does shock give way to grief—and to many questions. How could Emily do this to herself? How could she have abandoned all those who loved her? And what could have been done differently to prevent this devastating loss?

In the days and weeks that follow, Spiegel embarks on a search for answers. She unpacks family history, documents the last traces of her sister’s life, and questions what more she could have done to prevent her death. What she finds instead is that there is no narrative on the other side of grief like this. There is no answer, no easy resolution—only those that leave and those that keep living. Unflinchingly honest, visceral, and raw, this courageous elegy lays bare the hard realities of surviving the loss of a loved one.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

REBECCA SPIEGEL teaches writing in Philadelphia, where she lives with her family. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Without Her is her first book.

CHRIS STEDMAN is a writer, activist, and professor who teaches in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN, and currently serves as Research Fellow for Augsburg’s Interfaith Institute. He is the author of the books IRL, Faitheist, and the forthcoming Nothing in Particular, and the writer and host of Unread, named one of the best podcasts of 2021. In his free time, Chris is a power-lifting hobbyist and LGBTQIA+ fundraiser. In 2024, he was selected for a Moxie Award in recognition of his fundraising efforts in support of trans and gender-expansive Midwesterners.