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An evening with Rupert Callender

Wednesday 2nd November 2022
18:30 - 20:00 at Waterstones, Liverpool

An evening with Rupert Callender

Join us for a wonderful evening with Rupert Callender, as we hear all about his new book, 'What Remains?: Life, Death, and the Human Art of Undertaking'. The evening will be in-conversation with Tommy Calderbank.

Rupert has close ties with Liverpool; his funeral company is part of the creation and ongoing work dedicated to Toxteth's Day of the Dead and The People's Pyramid.

When he became an undertaker, Rupert Callender undertook to deal with the dead for the sake of the living. What Remains? is the brilliant, unforgettable story of the life and work of the world's first punk undertaker - but it is also a book about ordinary, everyday humanity and our capacity to face death with courage and compassion. To say goodbye to the people we love in our own way.
 
And in becoming the world's first 'punk undertaker' and establishing the Green Funeral Company in Devon, Ru Callender and his partner Claire challenged the stilted, traditional, structured world of the funeral industry: fusing what he had learned from his own deeply personal experiences with death, with the surprising and profound answers and raw emotion he discovered in rave culture and ritual magick.
 
From his unresolved grief for his parents and his cultural ancestors to political and religious non-conformists, social outlaws, experimental pioneers and acid house culture, Ru Callender has taken an outsider 'DIY' ethos to help people navigate grief and death. He has carried coffins across windswept beaches, sat in pubs with caskets on beer-stained tables, helped children fire flaming arrows into their father's funeral pyre, turned modern occult rituals into performance art and, with the KLF, is building the People's Pyramid of bony bricks in Liverpool.
 
What Remains? is a deeply moving book that will change the way readers think about life, death and the all-important end-of-life experience. As Ru memorably says, 'Death has shown me unimaginable horror, the unbreakable core of love and courage that lies at the heart of what it means to be human.'


Tommy Calderbank is a Liverpool and Beatles tour guide, death poet and community activist, developer of community spaces and public statues, producer of an alternative Dr Who audio adventure, and one of Ru's colleagues in the building of The People's Pyramid.
Liverpool Waterstones, Liverpool
Wednesday 2nd November 2022
18:30 - 20:00

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Terms & Conditions

Please note that events can occasionally be cancelled at short notice or their times or dates may alter; we therefore recommend that you check with the shop before travelling.
If you are unable to attend an event we can often reserve signed copies. Please contact the host shop for details. Reserved copies cannot be guaranteed and may not always carry dedications.
All signings (unless otherwise stated) operate on a first come first served basis, so early arrival is often recommended.