Frank Bruni

Frank Bruni (FAN ’19) has been a prominent journalist for more than three decades, principally at The New York Times, where his various roles have included op-ed columnist, White House correspondent, Rome bureau chief and chief restaurant critic. He was the Times’s first openly gay op-ed columnist and in 2016 was honored by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association with the Randy Shilts Award for his lifetime contribution to L.G.B.T.Q. equality. He has made frequent televisions appearances, including on The Daily Show, Late Night with Seth Meyers and Real Time with Bill Maher.

Bruni is the author of several books, including 2024’s The Age of Grievance, which became his fifth New York Times best seller. His previous best sellers include his memoir The Beauty of Dusk, about his medical, emotional and spiritual journey after a stroke in late 2017 diminished and imperiled his eyesight, and Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, about the college admissions mania.

In July 2021, Bruni became the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy at Duke University, teaching media-oriented classes in the Sanford School of Public Policy. In November 2024, he was honored by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper with the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor, in the category of literature. He continues to write his popular weekly newsletter for the Times and to produce occasional essays as a Contributing Opinion Writer for the newspaper.

He grew up in White Plains, N.Y., and Avon, Conn. He is a 1986 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and earned a B.A. in English. He earned an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University in 1988, graduating second in his class and winning a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship.