Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin’s is the author of the #1 New York Times and international bestseller “The Happiness Project”—an account of the year she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, the current scientific studies, and the lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. On her popular blog, The Happiness Project, she reports on her daily adventures in the pursuit of happiness.

“The Happiness Project” is more than a book and a blog, it’s a movement. Happiness Project groups have sprung up all over the world, where people meet to discuss their own happiness projects. Dozens of blogs have been launched by people following Gretchen’s example; hundreds of book groups have discussed the book; and rights for more than 32 foreign editions have been sold. Her annual “Happiness Challenge” has thousands of followers. “The Happiness Project” was even an answer on the game show Jeopardy!

Gretchen, an enthusiastic proponent of using technology to engage with readers about ideas, has a wide, active following on Twitter, on her Facebook Page, and on her YouTube channel—not to mention her monthly newsletter and her “Moment of Happiness” daily email of happiness quotations. She’s a notable example of a traditional author using a blog and social media to create discussion around a book and a subject, even before publication.

A graduate of Yale and Yale Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal and winner of the Edward M. Cullen Prize, Rubin started her career in law, and she was clerking for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she realized she really wanted to be a writer.

Her bestselling “Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill” and “Forty Ways to Look at JFK” are succinct, provocative biographies. Power Money Fame Sex: A User’s Guide is biting social criticism in the form of a user’s manual. “Profane Waste,” a collaboration with artist Dana Hoey, examines the question of why owners choose to destroy their own possessions. She also has three terrible novels safely locked in a desk drawer.

Raised in Kansas City, she lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.