John Hendrickson

John Hendrickson

John Hendrickson is known for writing in the Non-Fiction genre.

John Hendrickson is an award-winning journalist and contributing writer at The Atlantic. He is a strong advocate for disability nuance and has appeared on NPR, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, and the BBC. In his talks, he encourages audiences not to give in to everyday adversity and advocates making peace with the hurdles beyond our control.

His 2019 feature story on The Atlantic, What Joe Biden Can’t Bring Himself to Say, sparked a national debate on stuttering and communication diversity. The article received more than 2 million readers and was listed as one of the best stories of the year by The Sunday Long Read and Longform. The viral piece prompted thousands to share their personal stories, leading Hendrickson to write his debut book Life on Delay. The New Yorker named the book one of its best books of 2023, and Audible named it one of its best audiobooks of the year.

Hendrickson is one of the most sought-after speakers on themes of mental health, disability awareness, communication, and resilience in the United States.

According to Hendrickson, 25% of the people who stutter in their childhood continue stuttering as adults. Many never achieve true fluency, and some who seem to have overcome stuttering have developed a workaround to hide it. Society tends to celebrate the “cured,” leaving the false impression that stutters can be “overcome” if someone puts in enough effort.

In his book Life on Delay, Hendrickson addresses such myths and proposes a different way of living with a stutter and living with those who stutter.

He argues that our society could be a better place if we openly acknowledge and speak openly about these kinds of differences instead of keeping them hidden in the closet, where they could make stutters feel isolated and probably get caught in secondary illnesses such as depression and alcoholism. He further emphasizes that society might be a better place if we encourage each other to be more patient listeners.
Hendrickson and a dozen stutterers he interviews agree that their “disability” has made them better listeners and more empathetic humans. Anyone who grew up feeling isolated for any number of reasons can easily relate to this.

Hendrickson’s book Life on Delay blends memoir and nonfiction. He alternates between stories from his childhood and his career as a journalist, mixing in discussions of the science of stuttering, interviews with stutters, and the evolution of speech therapy.

Related Authors

Fans of John Hendrickson also enjoy these authors:

1. Jon Krakauer, author of: Into the Wild.
2. Susan Orlean, author of the Susan Orlean Library Science Books.
3. Delia Owens, author of: Where the Crawdads Sing.
4. Bill Bryson, author of the Bill Bryson Travel Books.
5. Haruki Murakami, author of: 1Q84.
6. Ernest Hemingway, author of: The Old Man and the Sea.
7. Alice Sebold, author of: The Lovely Bones.
8. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of: Eat, Pray, Love.
9. David Sedaris, author of: Me Talk Pretty One Day.
10. Peter Heller, author of: The Dog Stars.

John Hendrickson: F.A.Q