How To Die

About How To Die

A life-affirming Deathcast from Cape Town. How To Die is a series of conversations with people who dance on the edges of life, to discover what death can teach us. Because talking about death won’t kill you… it’s good for life.

Publisher

Sean O'Connor

Category

arts · education · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 Nov 2020

Latest episode

7 Mar 2025

Latest episodes

41 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Mar 2025

   Episode 40: The Performer

   The lights go down, people settle. A violin starts to play. Stage left, an elderly man walks onstage, alone, in a suit and tie, wearing a hat. This is John Cartwright, aged just 87 - The Performer. In this episode, we consider what performance means – on life as performance, and performance as life. How performance brings us alive, stretches us and helps us to grow. Punctuated by his poetry, John Cartwright provides a meditation on ageing, on the body, on movement, and what it means to be alive in this world. A refraction from within the kernel of a particular existence, turned outward and inward, shared. A mirror of life and death. The lights dim, the curtain closes… we applaud. We shuffle out, head our separate ways, holding the memory of the experience. We’re reflecting on what things mean. On who we love, and how we might do better. The stars in our own little life show, silently reciting our lines. Perhaps we sense a flickering curtain. Or can register the fading light. Or perhaps we’re entirely unaware that this is it, that life is no rehearsal…

2. 

   21 Feb 2025

   Episode 39: The Child Grief Counsellor

   Zodwa Mabusela works for Khululeka, the only organisation in South Africa focused on children's grief. In this episode, she explains why it’s often difficult to help children in their grief, and what we can do about it. She shares her experience of working in some of our poorest communities, and what all children go through when it comes to death and loss of a loved one, regardless of your circumstances. Zodwa also shares - with great courage and candour - the story of the loss of her own daughter, and how she has dealt with her own grief, using this experience to strengthen the vital work she does.

3. 

   7 Feb 2025

   Episode 38: The Pet Bereavement Doula

   Dion Chang is a well-known trends analyst who has trained as a death doula. He uses his skills and insight both in the world of work and as a companion to those experiencing something called disenfranchised grief, which is often associated with the loss of a cherished animal companion. In this episode, he describes his journey, offering invaluable perspective on cycles of life and death in several domains. He's a super-interesting guy with great ideas, who shares what it's like to enter the third age of life, and why he chooses rewirement over retirement.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

4.7 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 45 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

52

Social presence

91

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

Contact How To Die

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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