Death may be the subject matter but life is also celebrated at two events being held by Blackwell’s Bookshop this week.

Tonight’s event, presented as part of Oxford’s Kicking The Bucket festival, is likely to offer some dark comedy laughs as Kate Mayfield talks about her book The Undertaker’s Daughter.

It’s a memoir with a twist: a girl growing up in a Kentucky funeral parlour.

With Southern Gothic flair, Kate delves into the story of why her father — the “Beau Brummel of undertakers” — chose his profession.

Jubilee, Kentucky, in the 1960s was a segregated, God-fearing place and by opening a funeral home, her father also opened the door to family feuds, small-town politics, murder and intrigue. The family saw it all. They also saw the quiet ruin of Kate’s father, who hid alcoholism and infidel-ity behind his charisma and charm.

The event on Saturday will be poignant as the parents of Marina Keegan pay a visit. October 25, 2014, would have been Marina’s 25th birthday, but she was killed in a car accident just days after graduating from Yale and writing her inspirational essay The Opposite of Loneliness in 2012.

The essay went viral and was viewed more than 1.4 million times in 98 different countries after her death.

A New York Times bestseller, the book is a hope-filled posthumous collection of short stories and essays, by the fiercely intelligent young woman.

Jason Cowley, editor of the New Statesman and Suzanne Baboneau, managing director of Simon and Schuster UK, will celebrate Marina’s legacy. There will be readings from the inspirational book at the event, attended by Marina’s parents, Kevin and Tracy Keegan and her mentor and high school teacher, Beth McNamara.