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    I Would Die If I Were You

    Notes on Art and Truth-Telling

    Author Emily Rapp Black On Tour
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    Paperback
    $17.95 US
    Catapult | Counterpoint
    On sale May 19, 2026 | 288 Pages | 9781640096899
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    Drawing upon her previous work and over two decades of teaching, New York Times bestselling memoirist Emily Rapp Black explores how art can move us through moments of grief and loss while celebrating the spirit-lifting potential of all creative acts

    To be disabled is to be exiled; to have a terminal illness is to be isolated in one’s time-limitedness; to grieve is to be annihilated; and to live is inevitable: all of these, together and at once, form the core of the truth of being human.

    As most artists know, approaching their “hard" stories in a way that feels joyful, redemptive, and meaningful can be difficult to near impossible. With I Would Die If I Were You, celebrated author Emily Rapp Black has designed a guide that will help creative people working in any medium make meaning out of loss.

    For her entire life, she has been answering awkward questions in elevators: “What’s wrong with you?” “What happened to your body?” And, in the case of her son’s terminal illness and death, she’s been told more times than she can count: “I would die if I were you.” Rejecting such cruel and casual conclusions, Rapp Black posits that part of the human project is to experience grief and loss, and nobody gets out alive, and no writer—or person—survives anything alone. We need empathy, and for that we need community, and we need all the stories told within them to reach our fullest potential. I Would Die If I Were You is a bold and bracing blueprint—part memoir, part craft book—for how art making can lead us to our fullest truths.
    EMILY RAPP BLACK is the author of the New York Times bestseller book Poster Child, The Still Point of the Turning World, Sanctuary, and Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg. A former Fulbright scholar, Guggenheim Fellow, and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, she is Professor of Creative Writing at University of California-Riverside, where she also teaches in the School of Medicine.
    Emily Rapp Black View titles by Emily Rapp Black
    Ms., A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
    Literary Hub    , A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
    The Millions, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
    BookPage, A Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of the Year

    "Emily Rapp Black’s subtitle, Notes on Art and Truth Telling, signals exactly the kind of book this is: intimate, reflective, and intellectually alert to the uses of making. Part memoir and part inquiry into art, grief, and what truth can survive form, it belongs to that elegant category of books that feel both wounded and clarifying. It belongs with the month’s best nonfiction for readers who like seriousness without solemnity." —Pamela Thomas-Graham, Dandelion Chandelier

    "A reassuring guide for nurturing creativity." —Kirkus Reviews

    "I Would Die If I Were You is a reminder that there are intellectual and emotional frequencies that can only be explored through books. In big-hearted, sharply crafted chapter after chapter, Emily Rapp Black dares us to wander through the ways art, reckoning, and sadness are not at all finite, though they are necessarily forever. The writing and ideas here, particularly at the ends of chapters, are just absolutely exquisite. I dare any twenty-first century reader to show me a writer whose endings are better than Emily Black. Fuck you, AI. You could never ever do this." —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

    “I Would Die if I Were You is brilliant, profound, and endlessly inspiring. Emily Rapp Black has given writers at every level a tour de force of craft and courage. At its core, this is a galvanizing call for empathy and community, a testament to the power of language and imagination and the impossible compassion of storytelling.” —Brett Anthony Johnston, author of We Burn Daylight

    "I Would Die if I Were You is Emily Rapp Black's greatest work to date—and that's saying a lot. This is a book about how to live fully, how to create art and joy and truth in the world. Through her gorgeous prose, Black imparts wisdom and inspiration. I plan to use her unique (and insane) craft exercises as I approach my own work, and I will keep this important book on my desk, next to The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo and Ann Patchett's The Getaway Car." —New York Times bestselling novelist Amanda Eyre Ward

    “I Would Die If I Were You is the book fans have been waiting for. Emily’s memoirs have never been simply about understanding—they have been about survival. Across love, loss, grief, pain, and fleeting moments of joy, the protagonist we have followed so closely has long felt unresolved, suspended in becoming. This book marks a turning point. I Would Die If I Were You is Emily writing not from the urgency of endurance, but from a place of agency, triumph, and power. Survival is no longer the central question; living is.” —Maggie Freleng, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and producer

    “This book is wise, funny, honest, and immensely generous. Out of all the bitterness and narrowness around us, Emily Rapp Black shines a light and reminds us why honoring our drive to tell our stories is, in and of itself, a way to survive. Like all great writing, this book is full of measures of sorrow and joy that come from experience. And like very few books about writing, it is actually helpful. I Would Die if I Were You helped me remember why I want to write, and how to do it more honestly and truly, and I know it will help you too.” —Matthew Zapruder author of I Love Hearing Your Dreams and Story of a Poem

    About

    Drawing upon her previous work and over two decades of teaching, New York Times bestselling memoirist Emily Rapp Black explores how art can move us through moments of grief and loss while celebrating the spirit-lifting potential of all creative acts

    To be disabled is to be exiled; to have a terminal illness is to be isolated in one’s time-limitedness; to grieve is to be annihilated; and to live is inevitable: all of these, together and at once, form the core of the truth of being human.

    As most artists know, approaching their “hard" stories in a way that feels joyful, redemptive, and meaningful can be difficult to near impossible. With I Would Die If I Were You, celebrated author Emily Rapp Black has designed a guide that will help creative people working in any medium make meaning out of loss.

    For her entire life, she has been answering awkward questions in elevators: “What’s wrong with you?” “What happened to your body?” And, in the case of her son’s terminal illness and death, she’s been told more times than she can count: “I would die if I were you.” Rejecting such cruel and casual conclusions, Rapp Black posits that part of the human project is to experience grief and loss, and nobody gets out alive, and no writer—or person—survives anything alone. We need empathy, and for that we need community, and we need all the stories told within them to reach our fullest potential. I Would Die If I Were You is a bold and bracing blueprint—part memoir, part craft book—for how art making can lead us to our fullest truths.

    Author

    EMILY RAPP BLACK is the author of the New York Times bestseller book Poster Child, The Still Point of the Turning World, Sanctuary, and Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg. A former Fulbright scholar, Guggenheim Fellow, and graduate of Harvard Divinity School, she is Professor of Creative Writing at University of California-Riverside, where she also teaches in the School of Medicine.
    Emily Rapp Black View titles by Emily Rapp Black

    Praise

    Ms., A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
    Literary Hub    , A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
    The Millions, A Most Anticipated Book of the Year
    BookPage, A Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of the Year

    "Emily Rapp Black’s subtitle, Notes on Art and Truth Telling, signals exactly the kind of book this is: intimate, reflective, and intellectually alert to the uses of making. Part memoir and part inquiry into art, grief, and what truth can survive form, it belongs to that elegant category of books that feel both wounded and clarifying. It belongs with the month’s best nonfiction for readers who like seriousness without solemnity." —Pamela Thomas-Graham, Dandelion Chandelier

    "A reassuring guide for nurturing creativity." —Kirkus Reviews

    "I Would Die If I Were You is a reminder that there are intellectual and emotional frequencies that can only be explored through books. In big-hearted, sharply crafted chapter after chapter, Emily Rapp Black dares us to wander through the ways art, reckoning, and sadness are not at all finite, though they are necessarily forever. The writing and ideas here, particularly at the ends of chapters, are just absolutely exquisite. I dare any twenty-first century reader to show me a writer whose endings are better than Emily Black. Fuck you, AI. You could never ever do this." —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

    “I Would Die if I Were You is brilliant, profound, and endlessly inspiring. Emily Rapp Black has given writers at every level a tour de force of craft and courage. At its core, this is a galvanizing call for empathy and community, a testament to the power of language and imagination and the impossible compassion of storytelling.” —Brett Anthony Johnston, author of We Burn Daylight

    "I Would Die if I Were You is Emily Rapp Black's greatest work to date—and that's saying a lot. This is a book about how to live fully, how to create art and joy and truth in the world. Through her gorgeous prose, Black imparts wisdom and inspiration. I plan to use her unique (and insane) craft exercises as I approach my own work, and I will keep this important book on my desk, next to The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo and Ann Patchett's The Getaway Car." —New York Times bestselling novelist Amanda Eyre Ward

    “I Would Die If I Were You is the book fans have been waiting for. Emily’s memoirs have never been simply about understanding—they have been about survival. Across love, loss, grief, pain, and fleeting moments of joy, the protagonist we have followed so closely has long felt unresolved, suspended in becoming. This book marks a turning point. I Would Die If I Were You is Emily writing not from the urgency of endurance, but from a place of agency, triumph, and power. Survival is no longer the central question; living is.” —Maggie Freleng, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and producer

    “This book is wise, funny, honest, and immensely generous. Out of all the bitterness and narrowness around us, Emily Rapp Black shines a light and reminds us why honoring our drive to tell our stories is, in and of itself, a way to survive. Like all great writing, this book is full of measures of sorrow and joy that come from experience. And like very few books about writing, it is actually helpful. I Would Die if I Were You helped me remember why I want to write, and how to do it more honestly and truly, and I know it will help you too.” —Matthew Zapruder author of I Love Hearing Your Dreams and Story of a Poem

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