Ron Suskind is a unique talent: A Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, best-selling author, teacher and essayist. With a gift for conveying the most complex stories in the most compelling ways, Suskind has spent his career chronicling our social and political landscape.

His ground-breaking book, Life, Animated (April 2014), lifts a curtain on the Suskind family’s 20-year struggle with their youngest son, Owen, and his diagnosis of regressive autism. This story is not only about the neurological disorder; at its core, it is about human redemption. 

Audiences will absolutely be inspired by the beautiful illustration of a new kind of family, as the question of imagination having the ability to save a person’s life is answered. Suskind, who has travelled the globe for thirty years writing prize-winning articles and books about discarded and disenfranchised, discovers the most “left behind” person he has yet met lives in his own home – a boy who is neurologically incapable of connecting with the world. The themes of love, support and perseverance are highlighted to give new meanings to faith and caregiving. Ultimately, Suskind’s guide and teacher – as he took on Presidents and stitched together some of the era’s most influential narratives – was Owen, who found his voice and place in the world through the power of old Disney movies, myth, fable and legend.

Ron will speak during the Opening Plenary on Friday, 20 November.