NORWAY — Norway Memorial Library announces The Last Word: an end of life book discussion and program series. The series will begin with a performance and presentation by Sing Now! from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 5.

Sing Now! is an independent, non-denominational hospice choir comprised of community members drawn to this sacred call. Sing Now! sings for groups and for individuals at any point along their journey, including during the actual dying process. Come hear Sing Now! perform, share information and answer questions about the choir and its work. Refreshments will be served.

The series will continue with book discussions of works of fiction, poetry, nonfiction and memoir. Two sessions will welcome special guests to expand the dialogue with real life experience and knowledge. All programs are on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Books are available to check out at Norway Memorial Library or by request with a Norway Memorial Library card through the library’s online Minerva catalog.

March 12: “Me Before You” by Jojo Moyes is a work of fiction. Louisa is an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. She has barely been farther afield than her own village when she takes a job working for Will, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will is pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. When Louisa learns that Will has a plan, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

March 26: “Without: poems” by Donald Hall. Hall speaks of grief as a poet lamenting the death and mourning the loss of a wife, poet Jane Kenyon. It is Hall’s gift and testimony, his lament and his celebration of loss and of love.

Chuck Lakin of “Last Things: Alternatives at the End of Life” will be a special guest at this discussion. Chuck is a woodworker and home funeral educator, whose interest in this topic came from his experience at his father’s death. He wanted to be part of what happened after the death, but didn’t know what to do, and missed out. Now he knows and wants to share that information.

April 16: “Final Gifts: Understanding the special awareness, needs, and communications of the dying” by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley. In this moving and compassionate classic drawn from more than 20 years’ experience tending the terminally ill, these hospice nurses share their intimate experiences with patients at the end of life. Karen Flynn, hospice director for Androscoggin Home Health Care, will be the special guest at this discussion. She has facilitated discussions of “Final Gifts” in other settings and brings her own experiences with caring for the dying.

May 7: “The End of Your Life Book Club” by Will Schwalbe. During her treatment for cancer, Mary Anne and her son Will spent hours sitting in waiting rooms together. To pass the time, they talked about the books they were reading. Once, by chance, they read the same book at the same time and an informal book club of two was born. This is a memoir of caregiving, mourning and love and also about the joy of reading.

The Last Word book discussion series premiered in 2014 in Pittsfield as a collaboration of the Pittsfield Public Library and the Mid-Maine Community Forum. It was created by librarian Holly Williams and funded with a grant from the Maine Humanities Council.

All programs are open to the public and free of charge. Attendees may attend one or all sessions. No registration is required. A number of books are available for loan at the library and will be checked out on a first come first served basis,

For more information, stop by the library or call 743-5309, ext. 1.