In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, the Duke Disability Inclusion and Community Empowerment Affinity Group (DICE) will be hosting an author talk with Duke faculty member Frank Bruni on his 2023 memoir The Beauty of Dusk. In it, Bruni shares the story of what it was like for him to suddenly acquire a permanent disability later in life—a rare stroke left him “functionally blind” in one eye overnight in late 2017. DICE would like to spotlight Bruni's story because people are not just born with a disability or slowly age into disability—anyone can become temporarily or permanently disabled at any time, which is one reason why accessibility is important, including in the workplace.

This hybrid event will take place in person in the Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room (Rubenstein Library 153) and on Zoom. CART service will be provided and accessible parking and building information can be found on the library website, but any specific accommodation requests should be referred to Access and Accommodation Services. Members of the Duke community can find this book in the library catalog.

Bruni is the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, where he has been since 2021 after spending 25 years at The New York Times. He will be in conversation with Brittany Kikani, Senior Physical Therapist at Duke University Hospital and the Chair of DICE. This event is sponsored by Duke University Libraries and the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at Sanford.

This event will be presented in-person AND online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be provided to registrants. Please register online to help us estimate attendance.

For any questions, contact DukeDICE@duke.edu.