STEPHEN P. KIERNAN is an award-winning journalist and the author of Authentic Patriotism: Restoring America’s Founding Ideals Through Selfless Action and Last Rights: Rescuing the End of Life from the Medical System. He speaks frequently to audiences across the country about health care, civic engagement, ethics, service learning, meaningful living, medical research, the green economy, criminal justice, race relations, the power of personal commitment, hospice, palliative care and advance directives.

Stephen’s career as a journalist at the Burlington Free Press and Boston Globe spans more than two decades. He has won 40 awards, including the Gerald Loeb Award for financial journalism, the George Polk Award for medical reporting, and the Associated Press Managing Editors’ Freedom of Information Award. Stephan has also taught at Middlebury College and the New England Young Writer’s conference.

His books address major issues in modern American life: in Last Rights, the outdated state of modern end-of-life health care; and in Authentic Patriotism, the disengagement and disconnection of the nation’s citizenship. Authentic Patriotism details stories of how 60 individuals challenged the malaise pervading the American economy, politics, and spirit through civic engagement. Last Rights also examines ways of changing the system of end-of-life care that denies dignity to too many. 

Stephen currently serves on the board of the Young Writers Project and the advisory committee of the New Hampshire Palliative Care Initiative.  He lives in Charlotte, Vermont with his two sons.