Hello there.
I’m a journalist, editor, acclaimed author (see below), screenwriter, and sought-after speaker on all things related to communications—especially communications with strangers.
Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2022 by Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • AARP the Magazine • Eater • New York Post • LitHub • Publishers Lunch • and more.
A darkly hilarious and ultimately affecting story about food, fame, and our ongoing complicity in devouring our cultural heroes—written by Joe Keohane, Kevin Alexander, and Alessandra Lusardi, under the name S.E. Boyd.
What people are saying about The Lemon, by S.E. Boyd
“A helluva novel. Hip-deep in knowing detail from the worlds of food, media, and Hollywood, they pull off a saucy spin on the death of Anthony Bourdain—only in this version, his name is John Doe . . . If your Bourdain-loving hackles go up in response to this ploy, know that the book manages to artfully defang that reaction, both because the whole thing is actually about the potential effect of a salacious detail on a posthumous reputation and because in every other way John Doe is an embodiment of everything great about Bourdain . . . A hilarious, brilliant, cynical (and maybe even a little sad) takedown of the moral vacuum that is celebrity culture.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Laugh-out-loud sensational—a nonstop, scalpel-sharp, satirical skewering of, well, everything . . . A whole new genre: sardonic suspense!” —Lee Child
“Fearless, moving, and funny as hell. This is incisive, witty, era-defining literature like they used to make it. Thank God it’s back.”
—Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of Three Women and Animal
“The Lemon is the most fun I’ve had reading a made-up story in forever and a day. It rips on everything and everybody in our zeitgeist and beyond. It’s full of terrible people behaving like asses. Like real life. Funny, smart, surprising. Loved it.” —Bob Odenkirk
“[An] acid, knife-edged satire on food-world mores and the vagaries of modern fame.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Sure to set the food world abuzz, The Lemon is an archly acidic look at the celebrity death industrial complex and all those who seek to seize the narrative—and the spotlight—in the wake of a famous person’s death.”
—Vogue
“A winner that’s packed with dark humor.”
—AARP the Magazine
“This bitingly satiric tale examines the mix of greed and reverence that drives people who have something to gain or to protect. ”
—Library Journal
“S.E. Boyd has taken the secret ingredient to fame—‘shameless persistence’—and used it to pressure-cook up a novel funny enough and hot enough to singe the high brows off of any raised-pinkie foodie.”
—Paul Beatty, Booker Prize–winning author of The Sellout
“Every story line offers suspense and surprises, and the book’s deadpan humor is unremitting. . . . This frequently brilliant debut novel is a hilarious spoof of monetization mania and foodie culture.” —Shelf Awareness
“Deliciously trenchant, hilarious, and impossible to put down, this dark comedy says something profound about the world of celebrity and the mesmerizing subversives within it.”
—Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, author of the international bestsellers Sarong Party Girls and A Tiger in the Kitchen
“Witty, razor sharp, and enviably well-written, The Lemon is the bombshell book that members of the food-obsessed Kitchen Confidential generation have been waiting for.” —Adam Platt, former New York Magazine chief restaurant critic and author of The Book of Eating
Now in paperback: An acclaimed, entertaining, surprising, and inspiring look at why we don’t talk to strangers, how we can, and what happens when we do.
Praise for The Power of Strangers
“Rare is the book that delivers on the promise of a big answer to an even bigger question, but Joe Keohane’s The Power of Strangers does just that. This lively, searching work makes the case that welcoming ‘others’ isn’t just the bedrock of civilization but the surest path to the best of what life has to offer.”
— Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Homeland Elegies
“This is one of those remarkable books you may not realize you’re going to love (or need) until you’re well into it. The Power of Strangers is deeply and gamely researched, lucidly and engagingly written (as if by a pal), informative, thought-provoking, playful, useful, and possibly life-changing. What a great way to start the post-pandemic.”
— Kurt Andersen, bestselling author of Fantasyland and Evil Geniuses
Journalist Keohane has talked to hundreds of strangers over the course of his career. These connections, whether fleeting or resulting in lifelong relationships, are the foundation of his first book…An eye-opening account blending sociology and self-help. After this enlightening and uplifting exploration, readers will undoubtedly view strangers in a different way.
-Library Journal
“Journalist Keohane debuts with a playful account of his “quest to master talking to strangers.” Enriching his own social experiments with the findings of psychologists, sociologists, biologists, and theologians, Keohane unpacks the fear of rejection, notes the importance of eye contact, and details how social interaction promotes happiness … Keohane lucidly explains the scientific and sociological research and shares practical advice on how to get past small talk, establish commonalities, listen closely, and bring a conversation to an end…His entertaining and well-informed musings will inspire readers to strike up more conversations.
— Publishers Weekly review
“After a year of quarantine and masks and years of severe political division, journalist Keohane shows us why it’s vital for us to come together… Joining him on his adventures—e.g., cross-country train trips, seminars abroad—after a year in lockdown is a strange experience at first, but by the end, it makes the prospect of reentry even more exciting. Reading this book is like taking a college course that becomes a cult favorite because the witty, enthusiastic professor makes the topic seem not only entertaining, but essential… Possibly life-changing ideas supported with extensive sociological research, lively storytelling, and contagious jollity.
-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Thank Zeus, human nature, and the brilliant Joe Keohane for an illuminating, witty—and dare I say life-affirming—blend of psychology, anthropology, and lived human experience. I never knew, before now, why strangers are chattier at farmers markets than in supermarkets, or why the vital and broadly applicable craft of listening feels so good. God knows this book is timely and necessary, in this struggling republic of ours. I not only love this book, I'm grateful for it.”
—Paige Williams, New Yorker staff writer and author of The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy
“Journalist Keohane is a … great proponent of engaging with the unknown, extolling the informational, emotional, and psychological benefits of talking to new people… [He is] very fond of anecdotes, often humorous, always interesting, and has an engaging style that weaves in philosophy and history, diversity and cultural norms…This authoritative, thoroughly entertaining read comes along just at the right time, and will help readers re-engage after their long quarantines.”
— Booklist
When I first picked up The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World, I thought I had the essence of it by the first chapter – that there is unknown value in speaking with strangers and we ignore this at our peril – and wondered whether there was any point in reading further. But there is a hint of Bill Bryson about the author Joe Keohane: he wears his knowledge lightly and his exuberant curiosity leads him to inform his readers of a vast array of random, intriguing facts – so once you start reading you may find that you don’t want to stop.
— The Irish Independent
“In a thrilling, immersive journey across time and continents, Keohane upends everything we thought we knew about the people we don’t know.”