Why do we assume romantic relationships are more important than friendships? What do we lose when we expect a spouse to meet all our needs? And what can we learn about commitment, love, and family from people who put deep friendship at the center of their lives? These are the driving questions of Rhaina Cohen’s bestselling book The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center. Rhaina will discuss what she learned from years of following pairs of friends who've built their lives around each other, acting as each other’s housemates, caregivers, co-parents and more. She argues that we need to recognize the significance of friendship at a time when many are feeling the effects of the loneliness epidemic and are spending large stretches of their lives single, widowed or divorced. Rhaina’s book has been widely acclaimed, from Ezra Klein, who said it’s a book “I loved and recommend to everybody” to Trevor Noah, who called the book “my new Bible.”

Rhaina Cohen is an award-winning producer and editor for NPR's Embedded podcast and the bestselling author of The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center. Her writing about social connection has been published by The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other outlets, and her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cohen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and friends.