Lisa Herbert is an author and rural reporter with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). A radio journalist and news reader for 14 years, Lisa has also worked as a TV reporter and producer.

Her book, The Bottom Drawer Book: The After Death Action Plan, aims to get people talking about the elephant in the room. The reader's ideas, funeral plans, and life's reflections will sit quietly in its colourful pages until they're needed which, most likely, won't be anytime soon.

Lisa's interest in western society's perception of death and dying was sparked as a teen after reading several books written by renowned psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. The works, inspired by Dr Kübler-Ross' work with terminally ill patients, were groundbreaking at the time. Never before had the emotional needs of the dying been given attention by the medical profession.

Forty-five years on and many people are still reluctant to talk about the inevitable. However, while researching The Bottom Drawer Book, Lisa found that once the discussion began, people opened up and gave their mortality some measured thought: All they needed was someone to initiate the discussion. And that's where The Bottom Drawer Book comes in. Its aim is to start the conversation.