Writing Through Loss: On Crafting Nonfiction That Tackles America’s Opioid Crisis

Nadia Bowers and Stephanie Wittels Wachs both experienced the loss of siblings to an opioid overdose in 2015. Bowers was 7 months pregnant when her sister died, while Wittels Wachs had a 13-month-old baby when her brother died. Both women have now written books about their experiences with the opioid crisis, releasing their works a month apart from each other.

Nadia Bower's first book, Everything is Horrible and Wonderful (2018), deals with the opioid crisis through a deeply personal perspective on her brother's death. Her second book, Last Day, explores the opioid crisis from the family's perspective and offers an evidence-based resource for those dealing with opioid use disorder. Wittels Wachs's book, Last Day, is an adaptation of the podcast she hosted, where she and her co-host discussed the opioid crisis and the impact of overdose deaths on families.

Bowers wrote Everything is Horrible and Wonderful as an act of survival after her brother died, turning disjointed fragments of grief into a nine-month-long writing process. The podcast, Last Day, emerged after she connected with a fellow podcast listener who had lost a brother to an overdose. The podcast aimed to help others navigate the opioid crisis by exploring the lives of those who had lost loved ones and contemplating what could have been done differently.

Bowers's second book, Last Day, serves as a resource and a way to help others prevent similar tragedies. She hopes that readers will find solace, understanding, and practical guidance within its pages. Wittels Wachs's Dear Dealer began as letters written to her sister Sasha's drug dealer, stemming from a deep anger and grief over her sister's death.

The letters, which eventually grew into a memoir, allowed Bowers to express her feelings and anger in a cathartic way. The dealer's involvement in Sasha's life made him a symbolic figure for her pain, driving her to confront her emotions and share her story with the world.