Outside the Box Book – Everyday Stories of Life and Death
Thank you for considering sending in a story. The background to this book is my show Outside the Box – A live show about death. It premiered in 2016 and since then has been performed all over the country gathering 400 stories from the audience along with the way. You can view these by visiting the stories section of the website.
I have the delightful job of selecting the stories. I want to reflect as wide of variety of experiences as I can. I am now organising them into categories and realising where I need more stories. I would very much like to hear more from people about how they experienced their grieving. The moments when it seemed unendurable and the things and people that helped or didn’t! We need to get more skilful about how we support people after a bereavement and this could help. The death of an animal is also undervalued in our culture so responses relating to that would be helpful. And those who have been bereaved suddenly by violence or natural disaster would broaden the reach of the book yet further. I have access to stories of bereavement by suicide but welcome others too since this double taboo silences people even more. And finally, what has death taught you about life? In addition and overall, I want to hear from more non-white voices and those who live within a variety of different faith traditions about how those structures and beliefs have supported them.
How to present the story
Write the story in the first person. The length can vary from three sentences to two sides of A4. Write everything that you feel is important. I will be editing all contributions with the agreement of the contributors. Put your contact details on the top of the story – name, email and most useful phone number. Fill in and sign the permission section below and return with the story. Send it to Liz Rothschild at [email protected] with the completed permission section:
I give my permission for Liz Rothschild to make my story public via the website and through publication in her forthcoming book.
Full name in capitals
Name as you would want it to appear in any credits
Signature
Date
Email
Telephone number
Thank you very much. We will keep you informed about how your story is going to be used and the likely publication date for the book.