Death Cafe

Death Café: An open conversation

Have you ever wanted to talk about death? Curious about the great beyond? Want to get some of those skeletons out of the closet?   Then join us for a lively group-directed conversation about all things death, dying and the afterlife at our monthly Death Cafe.

A Death Café provides an opportunity for people to increase their awareness and understanding of death, and for death-related discussion and conversation to take place in a warm and informal environment.  People of all ages and from all walks of life come together to share stories of great intimacy over a cup of tea or coffee, and cake. Death Cafés provide an open, respectful and confidential space where everyone present can express their views, ask questions, and explore their beliefs without fear of judgement.

Apart from a break during the pandemic, your facilitator Dr Michele Knight has been running Death Cafe’s in Sydney since September 2014.  Our Death Cafes generally take place on the last Saturday of the month and are currently being held at The Creative Library, a community creative space located in Manly Public Library, in Manly.

To RSVP, please email Michele at SalonDeMorte@gmail.com  and share a little about yourself, or visit us at Facebook facebook.com/deathcafemarrickville

Death Café is a social franchise which is based on the ideas of Bernard Crettaz, a Swiss sociologist who established Café Mortels, a space for people to gather and talk about death. Jon Underwood (deathcafe.com) read about the first Café Mortel to take place in Paris in the Independent newspaper in 2010, and was immediately motivated to offer these himself.  If you would like to become a Death Cafe facilitator, and for further information about the Death Café social franchise, please visit deathcafe.com

Death Café is not a bereavement support group or a grief counselling setting, and Death Cafés won’t work for people who for whatever reason aren’t able to discuss death comfortably and openly.  Death Cafés also aren’t an opportunity to give people information about death and dying regardless of how good or important it is. Instead, we create time to discuss death without any expectations.

It is for this reason, having guest speakers and information materials available for attendees is actively discouraged.  Importantly, Death Cafés don’t work as a method of community engagement, research or consultation and are not permitted to be used for these purposes.

We look forward to welcoming you to our next Death Cafe.

Death Café (formerly Death Café Marrickville)