Halpern is the editor of the The New York Review of Books‘ ebook series NYRB Lit and a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College. She is the author of six books, including Can’t Remember What I Forgot: The Good News from the Frontlines of Memory Research and Migrations to Solitude: The Quest for Privacy in a Crowded World. Her most recent one is A Dog Walks Into a Nursing Home: Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher, which comes out next week. From Kirkus’ review:

When faced with the beginnings of empty-nest syndrome, Halpern [decided] to invest time in others as a way to fill her day. She and her dog, Pransky, became a certified human–dog therapy team, working at the local nursing home. She expected to meet and “learn something about old people, and about the therapeutic value of animals in a medical setting, and about myself in that setting, which was alien and not a little scary.” With Pransky at her side acting as an icebreaker, Halpern experienced the seven virtues of life: “love, hope, faith, prudence, justice, fortitude [and] restraint.” Witty and compassionate, the author introduces readers to the lives of many of the residents, providing insight into the last stages of a person’s life.

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