This is an extract from the Good Grief March 2023 mini-fest on Hope + Meaning conversation between Sali Hughes and writer and editor Kat Lister.
Kat's memoir The Elements: A Widowhood (2021) explores her grief after her husband of 5 years died of brain cancer when Kat was in her mid-thirties. Following his death, Kat turned to the elements - fire, water, earth, air - on her quest to come to terms with her grief, to inhabit her body again, and to find out who she is now.
To watch the full talk, head to • Kat Lister + Sali Hugh... .
Kat Lister is a writer and editor based in London. Beginning her career as a music journalist at the NME, she has gone on to write widely for publications including VICE, the Guardian, the Big Issue, Vogue and The Feminist Times, where she was appointed Contributing Editor. In 2017, she joined the editorial team at The Pool, becoming a freelance features and news editor until its demise in 2019.
Since her husband's death in 2018, Kat has focused on investigating her experience of grief, writing widely-circulated essays and features for the Sunday Times Magazine, Sunday Times Style and The Observer Magazine.
The Elements: A Widowhood is available on The Good Grief Festival virtual bookshop: www.goodgrieffest.com/bookshop
Praise for The Elements:
Stunning and immersive.
SINEAD GLEESON
The only book I’ve read that has made me feel less alone. A must read.
POORNA BELL
Powerful, humane and deeply affecting.
SALI HUGHES