Frank Bruni

Bestselling Author • Journalist • Cultural Commentator

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Frank Bruni is a prominent journalist and bestselling author who has written for The New York Times for over 30 years. During that time, he has worked as a White House correspondent, the Rome bureau chief, the paper’s chief restaurant critic, and an op-ed columnist—the Times’s first openly gay one. He currently writes an enormously popular Opinion-section newsletter and is partnered with Bret Stephens in The Conversation, a weekly feature that models spirited but respectful discussion across the partisan divide. He has made frequent television appearances, including on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Daily Show and Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Bruni is also the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, teaching courses in journalism and media with an emphasis on ethics and morality. At Duke, he founded and hosts a series of onstage conversations, “Independent Thinkers,” that spotlights people whose views don’t fit tidily into one partisan or ideological box, and who attempt to straddle divides. In his course, “America in the Age of Grievance,” which grew out of his most recent book, The Age of Grievance, he discusses issues that are urgent on campuses today, including free speech and cancel culture.

Bruni is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including The Beauty of Dusk, a memoir detailing his adjustment to the sudden loss of vision in one eye and the acceptance of the reality that the same fate could befall the other at any moment. The result is a poignant and uplifting education in vulnerability, resilience, and optimism. It reached #5 on the nonfiction bestseller lists and earned rave reviews from people and publications including Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, People, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

The Age of Grievance is a deep dive into why Americans are so angry and what we can do about it. He makes the case that we’ve conflated legitimate causes and petty complaints, creating a condition of constant self-victimization. We obsess over how we’ve been wronged and who’s to blame, rather than focusing on civil, productive dialogue and constructive action. This culture of grievance has become the enemy of progress and poses a threat to American democracy.

“In this feverish era for America and the world, Frank Bruni is the doctor we need. His diagnoses of our fractured politics are clear and compelling. His prescriptions are designed to heal. And his bedside manner—the wise, charming voice that has made him one of America’s most admired commentators—helps the medicine taste like sugar.” —David Von Drehle, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Charlie.

In Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, Bruni attempts to soothe the status-driven panic of students and their parents as they navigate what he calls the “college admissions mania,” and makes the case that being rejected by your first-choice college may be a blessing in disguise.

Bruni is a recipient of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s Randy Shilts Award for his career-long contributions to the LGBTQ community and the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Newspaper Columnist. Prior to joining The New York Times, Bruni worked at the New York Post and the Detroit Free Press, where he was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing.

For more information, please visit frankbruni.com.

Frank Bruni is a prominent journalist and bestselling author who has written for The New York Times for over 30 years. During that time, he has worked as a White House correspondent, the Rome bureau chief, the paper’s chief restaurant critic, and an op-ed columnist—the Times’s first openly gay one. He currently writes an enormously popular Opinion-section newsletter and is partnered with Bret Stephens in The Conversation, a weekly feature that models spirited but respectful discussion across the partisan divide. He has made frequent television appearances, including on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Daily Show and Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Bruni is also the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, teaching courses in journalism and media with an emphasis on ethics and morality. At Duke, he founded and hosts a series of onstage conversations, “Independent Thinkers,” that spotlights people whose views don’t fit tidily into one partisan or ideological box, and who attempt to straddle divides. In his course, “America in the Age of Grievance,” which grew out of his most recent book, The Age of Grievance, he discusses issues that are urgent on campuses today, including free speech and cancel culture.

Bruni is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including The Beauty of Dusk, a memoir detailing his adjustment to the sudden loss of vision in one eye and the acceptance of the reality that the same fate could befall the other at any moment. The result is a poignant and uplifting education in vulnerability, resilience, and optimism. It reached #5 on the nonfiction bestseller lists and earned rave reviews from people and publications including Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, People, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

The Age of Grievance is a deep dive into why Americans are so angry and what we can do about it. He makes the case that we’ve conflated legitimate causes and petty complaints, creating a condition of constant self-victimization. We obsess over how we’ve been wronged and who’s to blame, rather than focusing on civil, productive dialogue and constructive action. This culture of grievance has become the enemy of progress and poses a threat to American democracy.

“In this feverish era for America and the world, Frank Bruni is the doctor we need. His diagnoses of our fractured politics are clear and compelling. His prescriptions are designed to heal. And his bedside manner—the wise, charming voice that has made him one of America’s most admired commentators—helps the medicine taste like sugar.” —David Von Drehle, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Charlie.

In Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, Bruni attempts to soothe the status-driven panic of students and their parents as they navigate what he calls the “college admissions mania,” and makes the case that being rejected by your first-choice college may be a blessing in disguise.

Bruni is a recipient of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s Randy Shilts Award for his career-long contributions to the LGBTQ community and the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Newspaper Columnist. Prior to joining The New York Times, Bruni worked at the New York Post and the Detroit Free Press, where he was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing.

For more information, please visit frankbruni.com.

The Big Idea: Democracy Survives Only Through Civility and Compromise—and We’ve Lost Both
Americans today are angrier than ever before and it is destroying us as a nation, argues New York Times columnist Frank Bruni in his latest bestseller The Age of Grievance. Every slight—big and small, real and imagined—is met with the same fervor, and legitimate causes get lost in the noise of petty, nonsensical complaints. With everyone gunning for gold in the Oppression Olympics, focused solely on how they’ve been wronged and who to blame, grievance has become the enemy of progress in both politics and broader society. In this new book, Bruni outlines how anger and pessimism came to define our culture and how we move beyond black-and-white thinking and our obsession with outrage toward more fruitful avenues of dialogue and constructive action. “Whether from left or right, Bruni calls for a dose of humility on the part of all. A welcome call to grow up and cut out the whining.” —Kirkus Reviews

The Age of Grievance
America’s most recent presidential election – like so many political debates today – was a contest of grievances, suggesting that our country is less about diverse people finding common ground than mutually distrustful tribes jockeying for advantage. We need to understand how we got here to move beyond it, and Frank Bruni, a longtime New York Times journalist and acclaimed author (including the 2024 bestseller The Age of Grievance), explores the arc of grievance and the answers to it in thoughtful remarks designed to point us toward hopeful solutions and respectful conversations.

A Better College Culture
The corrosive discord in American political debate is mirrored on many college campuses, where protests can turn ugly and destructive, where many scared students censor themselves and where the freewheeling conversations essential to education are stymied. Why has that happened and how can we change it? In his 2024 bestseller The Age of Grievance, the longtime New York Times journalist and Duke University professor Frank Bruni explores those questions and suggests remedies, which he expands on in thoughtful remarks that reflect not only decades of reporting but also his more recent years and current role in the classroom.

Forging Optimism and Resilience in the Face of Personal Crisis
In late 2017, Bruni suffered a stroke of his right optic nerve, lost most vision in that eye and learned there was a 20 percent chance that he’d go blind. The story of his adjustment became the New York Times bestseller The Beauty of Dusk, praised by everyone from Oprah Winfrey to medical ethicists. Frank shares his story in this speech and casts what happened to him in universal terms. We all encounter sudden hardship, face limits as we age and can fashion a perspective with constructive, happiness-making measures of confidence and gratitude. Additionally, he offers advice for patients on getting the most from health care providers and for health care providers on doing right by the vulnerable people in front of them.

Frank Bruni: Snapshots of Decades in Journalism
Across 35 inimitable years in journalism, Frank Bruni has been a White House reporter, a foreign correspondent (Rome), the Times’s chief restaurant critic for five years and an Op-Ed columnist for over a decade. He has covered everything from campaigns to earthquakes to the Vatican. He has hunkered down in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle with Army soldiers, stretched his legs on Air Force One with President George W. Bush and – thanks to all of that and more – has war stories galore. In this engagement, Bruni tells those tales and reflects on not just the glamour but also the necessity of journalism.

The Age of Grievance (Simon & Schuster, 2024)
The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
A Meatloaf in Every Oven: Two Chatty Cooks, One Iconic Dish and Dozens of Recipes – from Mom’s to Mario Batali’s (Grand Central Life & Style, 2017)
Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania (Grand Central Publishing, 2016)
Born Round: A Story of Family, Food and a Ferocious Appetite (Penguin Books, 2009)
Ambling Into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush (Harper, 2002)

Selected Articles

Teaching in an American University Is Very Strange Right Now, The New York Times

2016 Randy Shilts Award, National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
2013 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Newspaper Columnist
2012 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Newspaper Columnist

He’s one of the smartest people I know.

Gail Collins, The New York Times

Frank was absolutely incredible. I think he was one of the best, if not the best, which is really saying a great deal given some of our speakers. I cannot think of a better endorsement for what we are attempting to do here at the school and the values of the IB curriculum than the message he delivered. It is as if he had a special insight into the DNA of our school. He truly is a thoughtful person with a real pulse on what is happening in the world. I appreciate his balance of challenge but hope.

St. Timothy's School, Stevenson, MD

Frank is a pleasure to host. His remarks were thoughtful, well-organized and kept our audience actively listening, including the full balcony of students. It was a perfect spring evening at Elon.

Elon University, Elon, NC

Whether from left or right, Bruni calls for a dose of humility on the part of all.

Kirkus Reviews

Brilliant . . . Bruni writes with humor, insight, and precision.

Wall Street Journal