Neumann is the author of The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America (Beacon, 2016). Her work has appeared at the The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s magazine, The Baffler, Guernica magazine (where she’s a contributing nonfiction editor), and elsewhere. (A full list of articles can be found here.)
Contact lannneumann@gmail.com || twitter @otherspoon.
Photo by Willy Somma.
Ann Neumann 
Good bless you. I have stage 4 cancer an 69 but still plan on skiing this April with my kids the doctors say I could live to be a hundred but my body tells me otherwise. I think I could do hospice care despite my cancer. I know what it’s like to fear imminent death, and also how wonderful it is to feel a breeze on my neck, à child’s smile, à dog’s happy bark. Those are the things that make each day irreplaceable and priceless
Wonderful article in the NY Times today. Very much looking forward to your first book!
Your article “Their Dying Wishes” was lovely. I was a pastoral care volunteer at my local hospital for two years and can relate to your descriptions of how patients use simple, quotidian things to reaffirm and share their humanity.
Loved finding this and to hear of your book and your work. A link was sent via fellow Lancaster-county-born Shirley Hershey Showalter, author of Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World. And yes, she married into the same Showalter tribe of Mary Emma Showalter tribe author of the cookbook I’m sure you went to for your ham loaf, Mennonite Community Cookbook. Herald Press has just come out with a 65th anniversary edition so you can guess we were delighted to see this mention! http://store.mennomedia.org/Mennonite-Community-Cookbook-P4482.aspx
Your NYTimes artcle will haunt me for a long time. Your work terrifies and calms me.
A beautiful, heartfelt essay. Those in the care of this wonderful woman are blessed indeed.
Your article captures what I’m trying to help my family understand. I cared for first my dad then my mom until they passed away. Neither of them planned to die, so made no preperations. I’m trying to do the opposite – stay ahead of the curve for as long as possible, have as much as possible finished before it’s my turn to go. I’m running a copy of your article for my family to read, will purchase your book in Jan. 2016. Thank you……………
I am a hospice volunteer and can totally embrace the stories in this article. I love what I do to help patients through the final months and days of life…..providing Reiki, Comfort Touch, or just holding hands and being present with them. This is sacred work.
God bless you. It is good work because it threatens to be terrifying to most of us. I’d like to do it too.