Combining personal experiences with research and interviews conducted with experts on joy, Steven defines what joy is and shares all the places and experiences where it can be found. From the most traditional things and situations to non-traditional things like the joy of writing by hand, aging, and the joy of the cancer ward, Petrow shows us how joy is always present—we just have to be open to experiencing it.
Steven Petrow is an award-winning journalist and book author who is best known for his Washington Post and New York Times essays on aging, health, and civility. Steven's 2019 TED Talk, “3 Ways to Practice Civility” has been viewed nearly two million times and translated into 16 languages.
Steven’s new book, The Joy You Make, will be published in September by The Open Field, Maria Shriver’s personally curated imprint at Penguin Random House. His last book, Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old, was published in 2021 and named one of the New York Times’ “favorite” books of the year (among other accolades). He’s also the author of Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners and The Lost Hamptons. He’s a much sought-after public speaker, and you’re likely to hear him when you stream NPR or one of your favorite — or least favorite — TV networks. He’s a past president of NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists and a current board member at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Steven is also the 2024 North Carolina Piedmont Laureate and lives in Hillsborough, N.C.
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