Why Everyone Should Talk About Pet Death | E. B. Bartels | TEDxWellesleyCollege

NOTE FROM TED: TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: Nearly every pet owner has experienced pet death – so why do we hardly talk about it? E.B. Bartels shares humorous and heartfelt anecdotes about loving pets, here and hereafter, and the potential connections we may be missing by not sharing our grief with others. E.B. Bartels is a nonfiction writer, a former Newtonville Books bookseller, and a GrubStreet instructor, with an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Wellesley College. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Salon, Literary Hub, WBUR, Catapult, Electric Literature, The Believer, and The Rumpus, among others. She is the author of Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, a narrative nonfiction book about the world of loving and losing animals, exploring the singular nature of our bonds with our companion animals, and how best to grieve for them once they’ve passed away, which was published in August 2022 by Mariner Books/HarperCollins. E.B. lives in Arlington, Massachusetts with her husband, Richie, and their dog (Seymour), tortoise (Terrence), pigeons (Bert and Dan), and dozen African cichlids (all named Milton). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at