Susan Cain

Susan Cain is an American author and lecturer who is best known for writing about introversion, sensitivity, and emotion. Her most notable books include Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (2012) and Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole (2022), the latter of which became an Oprah Book Club selection. Her TED Talks have been viewed over 50 million times.

Susan Horowitz Cain was born in 1968 and grew up in Lawrence, Nassau County, New York. She is the youngest of three children. Cain studied English at Princeton University, where she completed a thesis on T. S. Eliot and Wyndham Lewis. She graduated with an A.B. in 1989. In 1993, she received a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.

After graduation, Cain worked as a corporate lawyer for seven years at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. She then founded The Negotiation Company, where she worked as a negotiation consultant. She also taught at the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, a nonprofit educational organisation. Reflecting on her legal career, she once said, "It felt like time spent in a foreign country."

Cain left the corporate world to focus on writing. In 2012, she published Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. The book argued that Western culture often undervalues the traits of introverted people. It became a New York Times bestseller and was translated into over 40 languages.

In 2015, Cain co-founded Quiet Revolution, a company with projects focused on parenting, education and the workplace. Her second book, Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts (2016), was written for young people, teachers and parents.

Her third major book, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole, appeared in 2022. In it, she explored how embracing sadness can deepen human experience and joy. She stated that many people feel pressured to appear positive, referring to this as "normative sunshine."

Susan Cain is the creator of the Audible series A Quiet Life in Seven Steps and the Quiet Life online community. Her Kindred Letters newsletter is read worldwide.

Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal. LinkedIn named her the sixth most influential person globally. She also co-curates the Next Big Idea Book Club, which donates proceeds to children’s literacy.

Susan Cain lives with her family in the Hudson River Valley.

Photo Credit: Aaron Fedor