Rhaina Cohen’s new book, The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center has become a multi-staff pick at The Ivy and Bird in Hand even before its publication date– it’s just that good. We’re thrilled that Rhaina Cohen will join us at Bird in Hand to talk with us about significant, language-defying friendships that shape our lives, and the deep research and compelling storytelling contained in The Other Significant Others.
We’re thrilled to have Samantha Roth, LCSW-C, joining Rhaina Cohen in conversation.
At a time when many Americans are spending large stretches of their lives single, widowed or divorced, or feeling the effects of the “loneliness epidemic,” Cohen insists that we recognize the many forms of profound connection that can anchor our lives. A rousing and incisive book, The Other Significant Others challenges us to ask what we want from our relationships—not just what we’re supposed to want—and transforms how we define a fulfilling life.
RHAINA COHEN is an award-winning producer and editor for NPR’s  documentary podcast, Embedded. Her work, often focused on social connection, has aired on  numerous podcasts and radio shows, including Hidden Brain, Invisibilia, and All Things  Considered, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New  Republic and elsewhere. The recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the  Humanities, Cohen is a graduate of Northwestern University and Oxford, where she was a  Marshall Scholar. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, friends, and her friends’  children. 
SAMANTHA ROTH, LCSW-C, received her masters in clinical social work from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017. She has almost ten years of working in the legal, education, and medical systems as an advocate and clinical social worker, and is now the Associate Director of the Student Counseling Center at the Maryland Institute of College and Art (MICA). Samantha specializes in working with students who are survivors of trauma and/or living alternative lifestyles such as ethical non-monogamy and BDSM using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the neurobiology of trauma, and psycholinguistics. Samantha is also dedicated to educating those unaware or unfamiliar with alternative lifestyles and has been teaching on the subject in various communities for the last six years before starting her most recent teaching role as an adjunct professor. Samantha lives in Baltimore with her partner, two (not at all) attention-starved cats, and a bookshelf full of fantasy novels.