Cullen, Lisa Takeuchi

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Cullen, Lisa Takeuchi

PERSONAL: Born in Kobe, Japan; married; husband’s name Chris; children: Mika. Education: Canadian Academy International School, graduated, 1988; Rutgers College, B.A.; Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, graduated, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Home— NJ. E-mail— lisa@lisacullen. com.

CAREER: Writer. Money, New York, NY, staff writer, 1997-2001;Time, New York, NY, staff writer, 2001—. Worked previously as an editor or reporter at Financial Planning, Resident, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Adweek.

AWARDS, HONORS: International Reporting Project fellow to Japan, 2000; Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers nominee, 2006.

WRITINGS

Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death, Collins (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including the New York Times and Bon Appétit. Author of the blog Work in Progress for Time.

SIDELIGHTS: Lisa Takeuchi Cullen grew up in Kobe, Japan, and moved to the United States to attend university. She joined the staff of Money as a writer in 1997, and has been steadily working as a journalist for some of the nation’s most prominent magazines, including Time, and also contributes to a regular blog about the American workplace for Time’s Web site. In 2003 Cullen was assigned a story about how the funeral industry has been affected by the growing number of aging baby boomers. From that story came her first book, Remember Me: A Lively Tour of theNew American Way of Death. As part of her research, Cullen traveled around the country exploring how different cultures approach death as a celebratory process, including biodegradable burials, keepsakes such as diamonds made from cremains, and theme-based funerals. She also looked into the increasing role that Americans are taking in helping to pre-plan their own funerals. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked that Cullen’s “vivid reportage and wryly sympathetic tone feel anything but embalmed.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Remember Me a “a fresh and funny look at what’s new in funerals,” concluding that Cullen is “an amiable guide, and her tour is enjoyable and enlightening.”