Becky Cooper

Becky Cooper has had a prolific career as an author and researcher. She has written various books, essays, and lectures surrounding themes of death and impermanence. Through her work, which is steeped in Eastern philosophy and Victorian poetics, Cooper challenges the way we talk about mortality and the communal ways in which we grieve.

Born into a literary family, Cooper grew up in New York City and went on to earn an A.B. in Comparative Literature and Anthropology from Harvard University. It was here that she began her writing career, contributing essays and articles to various magazines and newspapers. After graduating, Cooper moved to England and served as a teaching assistant at the University of Cambridge. It was during this time that she wrote her debut book, Map of an Onion: A Memoir of Grief, a dialogue between a Jewish mother and daughter, that touched on Cooper’s own experience with the death of her father.

The book was met with critical acclaim, and it wasn’t long before Cooper was invited to speak at universities and conferences around the world. Her latest book, We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence, is an account of the first unsolved murder at Harvard University in 1969.

Described as a “parable of authoritarianism,” We Keep the Dead Close explores the reverberating effects of an unsolved murder and the spiral of silence that ensues in its wake. While the book itself is a gripping read, it is the structure of the book—with its shifting perspectives, threads of grief, and meditations on mortality—that set it apart from other true-crime stories.

Throughout her writings, Cooper emphasizes both the sacredness and the transience of life. In an interview with LitHub, Cooper spoke of being drawn to stories of people at the margins: “The beauty and tragedy of mortality informs us of life’s frailty, sure, but also of its staying power. Even as lives come and go, and memory tends to wane, the echoes remain. I find that endlessly fascinating.”

In addition to her books, Cooper is also the founder of Griefbacon, an online resource and community for individuals who are grieving. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, and she has given lectures at the National Portrait Gallery and The Jewish Museum of New York, among other places.

At its core, Becky Cooper’s writing, research, and activism is rooted in a celebration of life in light of our mortality. Through her reflections, incisive research, and warmth, Cooper reminds us of the power of grief and how it serves as an essential part of the cycle of life.