Radha Agrawal Announces New Book ‘How to Make a Friend’

As conversations surrounding loneliness and social isolation continue to grow worldwide, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and community builder Radha Agrawal is offering a practical roadmap for reconnecting with others. Her forthcoming book, How to Make a Friend: A Modern Guide to Friendship, will be released on October 6th, 2026, via Sourcebooks, with pre-orders available now.

Drawing on research, neuroscience, history, and her decades of experience creating communities through Daybreaker and the Belong Center, Agrawal argues that friendship isn’t something people simply have—it’s a skill that can be intentionally developed and nurtured.

Agrawal writes:

“Friendship may be the most meaningful work of our lives. We have language for almost everything else—how to build a career, how to find a romantic partner—but friendship? We’re mostly just improvising.”

Part manifesto and part practical guide, How to Make a Friend introduces readers to actionable tools designed to strengthen existing relationships, form new ones, and build stronger communities. Among the book’s core concepts is Agrawal’s F.R.I.E.N.D. Framework, which outlines six pillars of meaningful relationships: Fun, Reliability, Inefficiency, Energy, Needs & Distance.

Radha Agrawal ‘How to Make a Friend’ book cover

The framework encourages readers to better understand how friendships evolve, deepen, and sometimes naturally come to an end. Agrawal also introduces what she describes as “mutual acceptance with commitment” as a defining characteristic of lasting friendship.

Another recurring theme is what Agrawal calls “sacred inefficiency,” the belief that genuine relationships require time, patience, vulnerability, and showing up for one another even when it’s inconvenient.

Agrawal is perhaps best known as the founder and CEO of Daybreaker, the global sober morning dance movement that has brought together more than one million participants across over 60 cities worldwide. She also co-founded the Belong Center, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the growing loneliness epidemic through community-focused programming and events.

With How to Make a Friend, she brings those experiences together in a guide aimed at anyone navigating adult friendships, seeking deeper human connection, or looking to cultivate a stronger sense of belonging.