Simon Davis is a Washington, DC based writer. He writes mostly about death and other morbid things as a freelancer for VICE in his “Post Mortem” column. His work has also appeared in The Atlantic, Atlas Obscura, Gawker, Religion News Service, Mental Floss, and Noisey.
He was born and raised in Athens, Greece and writes in both English and Greek. This site began as a personal blog about modern Greek politics and culture. It was maintained with regular updates in English and Greek from early 2013 to mid 2014, at which time he began contributing more frequently to VICE. He doesn’t blog much any more, however it continues to serve as an archive of everything he has written.
Email: simonknowz [at] gmail {dot} com
Twitter: @SimonKnowz
Instagram: @simondavisdc
Muckrack: http://muckrack.com/SimonKnowz
Contently: https://simonknowz.contently.com/
Medium.com: https://medium.com/@simonknowz/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/SimonKnowz
Print publications
- (Guest Editor) The Death Issue, Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 36.4, June/July 2016
- Greek Government Takes Action against Maker of Nanobionic Clothing, Skeptical Inquirer magazine, Volume 36.6, November/December 2012
- Greece Grapples with Blasphemy, Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 33.3, April/May 2013
Infographics/Data analysis
- Here are 2017’s Top Death-Related Google Searches, VICE “Post Mortem” column, December 28, 2017
- The Most Distinctive Baby Names for Each of the Past 7 Generations, Mental Floss, April 4, 2017
- What Is the Trendiest Baby Name in American History?, Mental Floss, December 5, 2016
- 7 Fun Facts About American Names, Mental Floss, October 24, 2016
- 24,495 unusual names from the Social Security Death Master File, October 24, 2016
- Most Distinctive Last Names by State, Mental Floss, October 1, 2016
- The top 5 most distinctive last names by state, October 1, 2016
- The Most Popular Words In Heavy Metal Band Names, Mental Floss, July 8, 2016
- How Metal Is Your City?, Noisey, June 15, 2016
- Most Distinctive Obituary Euphemism for ‘Died’ in Each State, Mental Floss, April 4, 2016
Articles for various web publications
- Why do so many ‘nones’ believe in life after death?, Religion News Service, July 15, 2016
- How secular Americans are reshaping funeral rituals, Religion News Service, December 17,2015
- Indigent Burial in the U.S. is Shrouded in Confusion and Inconsistency—But There is Hope, Atlas Obscura, October 26, 2015
- Solving the Mystery of an Ancient Epidemic, The Atlantic, September 15, 2015
- “I Still Unload”: This Man Is a “Nullo” Who Removed His Penis and Balls, Gawker, October 16, 2014
Interviewed by others
- Here’s What Happens When You Write About Death, Dying & Other Morbid Things, CRäKN blog, April 25, 2018
- Conversations About Death, Science for the People, November 13, 2015
- If You’re Dying, Should You Still Worry About Sex?, HuffPost Live, October 19, 2015
- Burials During Epidemics, New Hampshire Public Radio, Word of Mouth program segment, March 31, 2015
VICE articles (Author page | “Post Mortem” column page)
- Here are 2017’s Top Death-Related Google Searches, VICE “Post Mortem” column, December 28, 2017
- This Game Explores What Happens to Your Corpse When You Die, “Post Mortem” column, October 19, 2017
- Working as a Funeral Director Helped Me Learn to Love Life, “Post Mortem” column, September 26, 2017
- The Growing Movement to Memorialize Queerness After Death, “Post Mortem” column, July 5, 2017
- How Social Media Changed Celebrity Deaths in 2016, “Post Mortem” column, January 6, 2017
- What Happens if You Vote and Die Before Election Day?, “Post Mortem” column, November 1, 2016
- Burglars Want to Rob You When Your Mom Dies, “Post Mortem” column, September 28, 2016
- How Living People Are Wrongfully Pronounced Dead, “Post Mortem” column, August 31, 2016
- Every Human Skull Is a Beautiful Snowflake, “Post Mortem” column, August 24, 2016
- A Handy Guide to Faking Your Own Death, “Post Mortem” column, August 8, 2016
- Why the Future of Food Is Bugs, June 10, 2016
- We Asked a Law Professor Whether the Government Could Really Ban Rough Sex, March 16, 2016
- Tattoos, Diseases, and Skin Pickings: A Museum Explores the Importance of Skin, “Post Mortem” column, February 18, 2016
- The Bizarre Crimes of Detroit’s Underground Cadaver Dealer, “Post Mortem” column, February 12, 2016
- How to Freeze Your Brain and Live Forever (Maybe), “Post Mortem” column, January 29, 2016
- We Talked to a Woman Who Helps People Deal with Being Abducted By Aliens, December 4, 2015
- Death Is Way More Complicated When You’re Polyamorous, “Post Mortem” column, November 9, 2015 (translated by VICE in Greek)
- ‘Save the Planet, Kill Yourself’: The Contentious History of the Church of Euthanasia, “Post Mortem” column, October 23, 2015
- How to Have Sex on Your Deathbed, “Post Mortem” column, October 6, 2015
- Death Styles of the Rich and Famous: Stories From an Upper East Side Funeral Home, “Post Mortem” column, September 24, 2015
- The Strange Case of the Oklahoma Woman Who Dismembered a Corpse at a Funeral, “Post Mortem” column, September 22, 2015 (translated by VICE in German and Greek)
- The Space Race for Lunar Funerals, “Post Mortem” column, September 16, 2015
- Being in a Coma is Like One Long Lucid Dream, “Post Mortem” column, August 31, 2015 (Translated by VICE in German and Italian)
- Should We Stop Using the Phrase ‘Assisted Suicide’?, “Post Mortem” column, August 21, 2015
- How Google Searches Influence Suicides, “Post Mortem” column, August 9, 2015
- Where Does Your Facebook Profile Go When You Die?, “Post Mortem” column, July 21, 2015 (translated by VICE in Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish)
- Meet the Living People Who Collect Dead Human Remains, “Post Mortem” column, July 13, 2015 (Translated by VICE in German and Greek)
- Human Pelts: The Art of Preserving Tattooed Skin After Death, “Post Mortem” column, June 29, 2015 (Translated by VICE in Chinese)
- Nonprofit Mortuaries Are Helping Cash-Strapped Families Honor Their Dead, “Post Mortem” column, June 22, 2015
- These Photographs of Zombie Children Will Terrify You, “Post Mortem” column, June 2, 2015 (translated by VICE in Chinese, German, Greek, Portugese, Romanian, and Spanish)
- Atheism Terrifies People Because It Makes Us Think About Death, “Post Mortem” column, May 11, 2015 (translated by VICE in Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Serbian, and Spanish)
- Gravestones from the Past Were Way Cooler Than They Are Today, “Post Mortem” column, May 5, 2015
- These Radical Undertakers Want Funerals to Be More Honest and Participatory, “Post Mortem” column, April 27,2015
- Necrophilia Is a Tough Crime to Adjudicate, “Post Mortem” column, April 23, 2015 (translated by VICE in Greek)
- This Is What Happens to Unclaimed Bodies in Washington, DC, “Post Mortem” column, April 6, 2015
- Photographs of the Weird and Beautiful Ways the Dead Are Memorialized Around the World, “Post Mortem” column, March 30, 2015 (translated by VICE in Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Romanian, Serbian, and Spanish)
- How Bodies Were Buried During History’s Worst Epidemics, “Post Mortem” column, March 24, 2015 (translated by VICE in Greek and Romanian)
- Meet the Man Who Makes Molds of Dead People’s Faces, “Post Mortem” column, March 16, 2015 (translated by VICE in Chinese and Greek)
- Pastry Chef Annabel Lecter Will Turn Your Nightmares into Cake, “Post Mortem” column, March 9, 2015 (translated by VICE in German, Greek, Serbian, and Spanish)
- Should Photographing Corpses Be Illegal?, “Post Mortem” column, February 23, 2015
- How Do You Date When You Work with Death?, “Post Mortem” column, February 10, 2015
- We Asked an Expert What Would Happen if No One Got Vaccinated, February 4, 2015
- The Art and Science of Making Dead People Look Alive Again, “Post Mortem” column, February 2, 2015
- Meet the Guy Who Finds Forgotten Graves with a ‘Bone Finder’, “Post Mortem” column, January 26, 2015 (translated by VICE in Chinese and French)
- Transgender People Are Misgendered, Even in Death, “Post Mortem” column, January 21, 2015
- Let’s Talk About Binding Books with Human Skin, “Post Mortem” column, January 13, 2015 (translated by VICE in Greek)
- How the ‘New York Times’ Churns Out 1,000 Obituaries Every Year, “Post Mortem” column, January 5, 2015 (translated by VICE in Spanish)
- The Graves of the Rich and Famous in Los Angeles Will Make Your Apartment Look Pathetic, “Post Mortem” column, December 29, 2014 (translated by VICE in Greek and Serbian)
- Funeral Directors Share Morbid Stories About Death During the Holidays, “Post Mortem” column, December 15, 2014 (translated by VICE in Dutch)
- Crowdsourcing a Better Understanding of European Youth Migration, November 29, 2014
- Katha Pollitt Is Trying to Remove the Stigma of Abortion, October 29, 2014
- Dr. Atul Gawande Wants Us to Die Better, “Post Mortem” column, October 24, 2014
- What Actually Is Enterovirus D68, and Why Are People Freaking Out About It?, October 16, 2014
- Do Anthropologists Consider the Ice Bucket Challenge an ‘Extreme Ritual’?, October 7, 2014
- This Mortician Wants You to Take a Hands-On Approach with Corpses, “Post Mortem” column, October 1, 2014 (translated by VICE in Greek)
- Lindy West Is Leaving Jezebel, but She Still Hates Rape, September 5, 2014
- How to Avoid Being an Exploding Corpse After You Die, “Post Mortem” column, August 14, 2014 (translated by VICE in French and Portugese)
- The Guy Behind Confused Cats Against Feminism Is Sick of Mansplaining to Other Men, August 1, 2014 (translated by VICE in German)
- This Ex-Muslim Started a Tumblr for Women Who Have Abandoned the Hijab, June 19, 2014 (translated by VICE in Dutch, German, Italian, Romanian, Polish, and by me in Greek)
- An Interview with Fred Phelps’s Son, Nathan, VICE UK, March 26, 2014
Mental Floss articles
- 6 Idioms That Came From Film And Theater, February 27, 2017
- 6 Words You Probably Didn’t Know Came From Sports, May 4, 2016
- 10 Ancient Greek Roots That Can Trip You Up in Modern Greek, February 11, 2016
- 21 Amusing Greek-Americanisms English Speakers Might Recognize, January 19, 2016
- The Quest to Discover the World’s Books Bound in Human Skin, October 19, 2015
Greece-related articles in English
- Bruegel’s Senior Fellow Zsolt Darvas on why Greeks should vote Yes in the referendum, Medium.com, July 3, 2015
- (T) The unpaid taxes of former Greek PM Lucas Papademos, The Press Project–International edition, May 12, 2014
- Why does the primary surplus exclude bank recapitalisation?, EnetEnglish, April 25, 2014
- (T) An interview with an HIV positive inmate of Korydallos prison: “Prejudice comes not from the staff or the inmates but from the ministry”, The Press Project–International edition, February 25, 2014
- (T) The Greek Primary Surplus Handbook, The Press Project–International edition, February 22, 2014
- SYRIZA: The generic opposition party, The Press Project–International edition, November 27, 2013
- Three terrible tropes about Greece (and why they need to stop), The Press Project–International edition, November 24, 2013
(T): articles written in Greek that were translated by someone else.