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Amy Hempel

Short-story writer; teacher at the Michener Center for Writers

United States · b. 1951

American short-story writer. Her collections Reasons to Live, At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom, Tumble Home and The Dog of the Marriage were gathered as The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel in 2006, and Sing to It followed in 2019. Teaches creative writing at the Michener Center for Writers.

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Question If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing? Death & what remains read 53 other answers →
I think that dying might bring about a profound loneliness. I don’t feel lonely in life, but I do think this would be a very hard discovery at the end. Assuming there might be a time of consciousness, I think that serious medication might be a help. Not to put me out, but to smooth things over. The last time I had surgery, the anesthesiologist visited me in Recovery and gave me a sheet of paper on which was listed all of the drugs he had administered. I was glad to get it after the surgery, since I went down the list thinking, That’s what killed Michael Jackson, that’s what killed Prince. I don’t take recreational drugs, never did, but I would like to have the option of taking the edge off of fear. People I love at my bedside—I don’t see that being a comfort, but a reminder of who I’ll be losing. Music might be welcome. I could imagine wanting to hear Jorma Kaukonen sing “Genesis.”

Recorded Anna DeForest, A Good Exit, a five-part column, The Believer, 2 June 2026 source ↗

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