Bob Morris

Bob Morris is a writer and social commentator. For many years he was the “Age of Dissonance” columnist for the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times. As a commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, he has talked about family, and in particular being a gay uncle in a world of high-strung parents. A contributing editor to Travel and Leisure magazine, Morris has also been published in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, New York, Elle, Vogue and many other publications.  He is the author of two picture books: Crispin the Terrible is for children and Delia at the Delano is for adults who don’t like to read.  His cureent book, Assisted Loving: True Tales of Double Dating with My Dad (Harper), is a funny, bittersweet story of the complicated relationship between Morris and his 80-year-old dad as they both search for love in the modern age.

After Morris’s mother died, his eccentric, bridge-obsessed, social butterfly father quickly took advantage of the freedom. Too quickly, Morris thought; Joe Morris seemed more interested in finding a girlfriend than in mourning his loss. Meanwhile, the author’s own fabulous fashionista city life was floundering as he watched all of his friends get married. He was seeking love in a market increasingly unsympathetic to a middle-aged gay man.

Assisted Loving depicts a wacky and wonderful father and son’s parallel hunt for love. With a wicked sense of humor and some brutally honest reflections, Morris explores universal themes such as the aging parents of baby boomers who refuse to go quietly; the internet era of romance, and the complications of parent and child accepting one another. At its core, this hilarious and heartwarming twin journey of father and son is a lesson in giving and receiving love with an open heart.

Assisted Loving is based on Morris’s one-man play of the same name, which a New York Times critic called “wry, observant, and winning.” It was produced at the Lucille Lortel Theater by Manhattan Class Company and later by Daryl Roth at her cabaret space off Union Square.  Other plays he has written have had productions or readings with the Jewish Repertory Theater (where Morris was a writer in residence), New York Theater Workshop, Dixon Place, and Theater for the New City.

Morris is a graduate of Brown University and currently lives in Greenwich Village with his partner.

Assisted Loving: True Tales of Double Dating with My Father

Assisted Loving – A One Man Show with Music

Finding Love in the Internet Era… At Any Age

Boomer Kids, Guilt, and Their Aging Parents

Reflections of a Gay Uncle and Co-donor Dad on Parenting Today

A Career in Journalism