Elana Dykewomon, a writer and activist  who spent decades exploring her identity as a gay woman and a Jew, died August 7 at her home in Oakland, CA. She was 72.

Ms. Dykewomon chose her pen name (jettisoning the “man” in her new name) and wrote three novels and five collections of poetry and short stories, gaining ardent attention from the gay community. She was in hospice at her home, with friends, preparing to watch a live-streamed performance of her first play, “How to Let Your Lover Die,” when she died, 20 minutes before the performance began. The play is a rumination on love and loss that she wrote following the death in 2016 of her wife and partner of many decades. “Mourning is the most difficult form of celebration,” Ms. Dykewomon wrote. “But I am filled with the beauty of what I need to mourn.”