Katy Butler Explained

Katy Butler (born 1949) is an American journalist, essayist and author of Knocking on Heaven's Door, the Path to a Better Way of Death, (Scribner, 2013) and The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life (Simon & Schuster, 2019).

Career

Attended Sarah Lawrence College and earned a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Teaches writing at the Esalen Institute^[1] and was a speaker at The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard's 2008 and 2009 conferences on Narrative Nonfiction. Awarded writing residencies at Mesa Refuge, Hedgebrook, and Blue Mountain Center.^[2]

In the 1980s she exposed abuses of sexuality and power by leaders of American Buddhist communities.^[3]

She speaks at hospitals,^[4] medical schools^[5] and other locations about improving end-of-life medicine and the doctor-patient relationship.^[6]

Publications

Butler's essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker,^[7] The Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, the Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, New West Magazine, Vogue, The Village Voice, Tricycle (The Buddhist Quarterly), More magazine, Psychotherapy Networker magazine,^[8] among others.^[9] Her writing career began with an internship at the San Francisco Bay Guardian, followed by a stint as a staff reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle that lasted for 12 years.

Books

• Knocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death (2013) The New York Times called Knocking on Heaven's Door a "thoroughly researched and compelling mix of personal narrative and hard-nosed reporting"^[10] and named it one of their 100 Notable Books of 2013.^[11] The book also received a Books for a Better Life Award in 2014^[12] and was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.^[13]
• The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life (2019) is a guide to reducing the risks of medical overtreatment and finding those helpful medical allies in the last third of life.^[14]

Awards and honors

In 2010, the Nieman Foundation named "What Broke My Father's Heart," an essay about how a pacemaker forced her "father's heart to outlive his brain" a "notable narrative."^[15] The essay, first published in the New York Times Magazine,^[16] also won awards for national journalism from the National Association of Science Writers^[17] and the Association of Health Care Journalists.^[18] Butler's essays have appeared in Best American Essays, Best American Science Writing and Best Buddhist Writing. In 2004, she was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for an essay about applying traditional religious practices to the chaos of modern life.

Personal life

Married to Brian Donohue and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in South Africa in 1949. Grew up in England and the Boston area. A Buddhist since 1977, Butler was lay ordained by the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh^[19] and has co-led small meditation groups.

External links

• • • Butler, Katy. "Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America", primary published in: Common Boundary Magazine, May/June 1990
• Butler, Katy. "The Good Daughter: Becoming the Family Caregiver", More, May 2007.
• Butler, Katy. "What Broke My Father’s Heart", The New York Times Magazine, June 14, 2010.
• Pitzer, Andrea. "Katy Butler on Greek tragedy, reader comments and how “scenes keep you close to the bone truth of things”", Nieman Storyboard, July 6, 2010.

Notes and References

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20pacemaker-t.html?src=me&ref=magazine "What Broke My Father's Heart"
2. http://www.mesarefuge.org/index.php/1998-2008residents "2008-1998 Residents"
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/us/21beliefs.html?pagewanted=all "Sex Scandal Has U.S. Buddhists Looking Within"
4. Web site: Southern California Healthcare Providers Call for More Compassionate End-of-Life Care. Cedars-Sinai. 26 June 2015.
5. Web site: The Douglas West Endowed Memorial Visiting Lecture. Mount Sinai Hospital. 26 June 2015.
6. Web site: Award-Winning Author Katy Butler Coming to Chicago. Life Matters Media. 12 June 2014. 26 June 2015.
7. McLeod, Melvin (ed.). The Best Buddhist Writing 2006. Shambhala Publications, 2006, p. 64ff. The essay first appeared in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Summer 2005.
8. http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine_awards/searchable_database/index.aspx American Society of Magazine Editors, National Magazine Award
9. http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2010/07/02/katy-butler-shows-the-bitter-side-of-medical-intervention/ "Katy Butler shows the bitter side of medical intervention"
10. News: Verghese. Abraham. Letting Go: "Knocking on Heaven's Door," by Katy Butler. 26 June 2015. The New York Times. 6 September 2013.
11. News: 100 Notable Books of 2013. 26 June 2015. The New York Times. 27 November 2013.
12. Web site: Books for a Better Life Awards Winners Announced at Ceremony Hosted by Meredith Vieira. National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 26 June 2015.
13. Web site: 2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalists. Dayton Literary Peace Prize. 26 June 2015.
14. Book: The Art of Dying Well. 9781501135316. 19 February 2019. Butler. Katy.
15. http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2010/07/02/katy-butler-shows-the-bitter-side-of-medical-intervention/ "Katy Butler shows the bitter side of medical intervention"
16. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20pacemaker-t.html?src=me&ref=magazine "What Broke My Father's Heart"
17. http://www.nasw.org/2011-science-society-awards "2011 Science in Society Awards"
18. http://www.healthjournalism.org/about-news-detail.php?id=116 "2010 winners named in premier health journalism awards"
19. http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/interview-katy-butler "An Interview with Katy Butler"