Cody Delistraty

New York City

Cody Delistraty is a speechwriter and journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker, among others. He is the author of The Grief Cure: Looking for the End of Loss (Harper, 2024). He lives in New York City.

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Written by Cody Delistraty

Blurry photo of a person lying back with head tilted, set against a red and dark background.

essay

Sex and sexuality

Sex and death

Our culture works hard to keep sex and death separate but recharging the libido might provide the release that grief needs

Cody Delistraty

Painting of a smiling person with eyes closed wearing a cap, holding something over their shoulder against a blue background.

essay

Mood and emotion

The happiness ruse

How did feeling good become a matter of relentless, competitive work; a never-to-be-attained goal which makes us miserable?

Cody Delistraty

Illustration of a woman indoors holding a necklace pendant shapes like a winged insect, while the same kind of insect flies outside, where a boy and girl walk near a car and a bus.

essay

Meaning and the good life

On coincidence

Lightning can strike twice and people do call just when you’re thinking of them – but are such coincidences meaningful?

Cody Delistraty

Scene from a film with James Dean in a red jacket and a woman on the stairs and a man at a doorway, in conversation.

essay

Stories and literature

The coming-of-age con

How can you go about finding ‘who you really are’ if the whole idea of the one true self is a big fabrication?

Cody Delistraty

People dancing in a crowded club. A woman with curly hair and a man in a red hat are prominently visible, looking animated.

essay

History

Drugs du jour

LSD in the ’60s; ecstasy in the ’80s; ‘smart’ drugs today: how we get high reflects the desires and fears of our times

Cody Delistraty

Black-and-white photo of a woman seated alone inside a café, looking down, with empty outdoor chairs visible through the window.

essay

Mood and emotion

Only the lonely

Loneliness is hell: debilitating yet formative. Can we avoid the pains of loneliness yet enjoy the pleasures of solitude?

Cody Delistraty

Photo of a person with long hair and beard wearing sunglasses in a bar, leaning back with a beverage on the bar counter.

essay

Pleasure and pain

When it’s good to be bad

The relentless pursuit of success is valorised in our culture, but taking the long way around is often the best

Cody Delistraty