Find a conversation near you.

Every event is a little different, shaped by the people, place and community around it.

All events are free and require registration because spaces are limited.

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WHAT IS ON THE ROAD?

Grief happens everywhere.

So, the conversations about it should too.

This Is Grief: On the Road is a series of free community conversations travelling through Aotearoa in November 2026.

I'll be sitting down with people in libraries, bookshops and community spaces to talk honestly about grief, loss, love, suicide loss, identity, connection and what happens when life continues after something has changed it forever.

Some events will be conversations and Q&As. Others will be smaller, more informal gatherings. No two communities are exactly the same, and I don't think these conversations need to be either.

WHY I'M DOING IT

This began with my daughter, Kahlia.

After Kahlia died by suicide in April 2024, I began writing because I didn't know what else to do with everything that came afterwards.

That writing eventually became books, This Is Grief, and a growing community of people willing to talk more honestly about grief.

Again and again, I've seen what happens when somebody says the thing we're usually too frightened, uncomfortable or unsure to say.

Someone else quietly thinks:

Me too.

There are extraordinary conversations happening online about grief, suicide loss and life afterwards.

But grief doesn't live online.

It lives in our homes.
Our workplaces.
Our families.
Our communities.

So this November, I'm taking the conversation there.

Not to fix grief.
Not to teach people how to do it properly.

Just to make a little more room for the truth of it.

WHAT TO EXPECT

These aren't lectures. They aren't therapy sessions. And nobody will be expected to stand up and tell a room full of strangers their deepest story.

You can ask questions.

You can join the conversation.

You can sit quietly at the back and listen.

Come if you're grieving.

Come if somebody you love is grieving.

Come if you've been affected by suicide.

Come if you work alongside people experiencing loss.

Come because you want us, as communities, to get better at talking about the experiences that eventually touch all of us.

There is no right way to be in the room.

ABOUT KIRSTEN

I'm a New Zealand writer, grief advocate and founder of This Is Grief.

My work grew from the death of my daughter, Kahlia, and from my own experience of discovering how enormous grief is, and how poorly equipped we can be to talk about it.

Through writing, community conversations and practical resources, I explore grief without trying to tidy it up, turn it into a lesson or rush people towards healing.

I believe we need more places where grief can simply be witnessed, spoken about and understood.

[ MORE ABOUT KIRSTEN → ]

THE BOOKS

THE WORDS BEHIND THE CONVERSATIONS

The Year After Kahlia

A raw account of the first year after my daughter's death, and what grief does to a life when the world keeps moving.

[ DISCOVER THE BOOK → ]

STAY

A story of grief, love, loyalty and belonging, told through the eyes of a very good dog who knows that sometimes the most important thing we can do is stay.

[ DISCOVER STAY → ]

Tiny Invitations - A Grief Workbook for Impossible Days

Small words for living alongside grief, without asking it to become something prettier, easier or more meaningful than it is.

[ DISCOVER TINY INVITATIONS → ]

Stay with This Is Grief.

Tiny Invitations is my free weekly note about grief, love and living in the after.

Quiet words for the weeks when grief doesn't fit neatly anywhere.

[ RECEIVE TINY INVITATIONS → ]

Free. Weekly. No fixing required.

This Is Grief: On the Road
Aotearoa New Zealand · November 2026

Stories. Conversations. Connection.