Rich Benjamin

Rich’s unique perspective on culture and society appears regularly in public debate, including in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times Sunday Opinion, The Guardian, The New Yorker on-line, and The New York Times Sunday Book Review.  He frequently appears on NPR, MSNBC, and CNN.  Rich has taught short-essay and commentary writing for leaders at non-profit institutions, including Demos, the Scholars Strategy Network, as well as at Stanford University.

Rich is the author of Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America, selected as an Editor’s Choice by Booklist and The American Library Association.  His TED Talk based on his commentary and this book has received over 2.5 million views and translation into 25 languages. 

Rich’s literary citizenship includes serving as a Juror for the PEN Center’s John Kenneth Galbraith Book Award for Nonfiction (2017), as well as serving on the Board of Trustees of the Authors Guild, the nation’s oldest writers’ union that has been protecting authors’ rights and free speech since 1913.

Short-Essay Bootcamp: Commentary Writing in the Age of Disruption