A fresh perspective. Tactile, cinematic writing. Reporting the important stories like no one else. |
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Whether it means talking my way past teenage rebels guarding a jungle checkpoint or asking hard questions in corporate boardrooms, my goals are to get the story and to tell it better than anyone. I've been a journalist since 1993, and my work has taken me from the anarchy of wartime Sarajevo to the ritzy offices of the Antwerp Diamond District. I've reported from Bosnia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Italy and Belgium. All along the way, I've met fascinating people in exceptional circumstances. Through me, readers have come to know them as well. My specialty is narrative nonfiction, telling true stories in an observant, fast-paced style. Crisp, clear and often witty, my writing combines the highest standards of journalism with colorful storytelling. I am the author of two acclaimed nonfiction books, The Road to Kosovo and Blood Diamonds. Blood Diamonds was the primary reference for the Oscar-nominated film "Blood Diamond" starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. My third book, the true story of the greatest diamond heist in history, is being co-authored with Scott Andrew Selby and is slated for publication in the coming months. I'm also the author of two chapters — on Sierra Leone and Nigeria — in Lonely Planet's West Africa, Vol. 3 travel guidebook. My work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Greeley Tribune and the Longmont Daily Times-Call. In 2002, I cofounded Fort Collins Weekly, a successful and award-winning community newspaper that was sold in 2007 to Swift Communications. Honors Blood Diamonds was named the Colorado Nonfiction Book of the Year in 2003, and the American Library Association’s Notable Book of the Year in 2003.My newspaper articles have won numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Colorado Press Association, Colorado Associated Press Reporters and Editors, and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. My series detailing atrocities in Kosovo for the Longmont Daily Times-Call won the first place award for investigative journalism from the Inland Press Association. Lectures Keynote presenter: Gannett Lecture Series, "The Peril of Ignoring, Small, Regional Conflicts: Sierra Leone, Diamonds and Al Qaeda," Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, Mass., Jan. 20, 2005.Featured speaker: Tables of Content, "The Role of Sierra Leone, Conflict Diamonds and the International Diamond Industry in Global Terrorism," Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo., June 3, 2006. Keynote speaker: Human Rights Awareness on Campus, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla., Nov. 30, 2006. Keynote speaker: Fair Trade Week, Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., March 26, 2008. Media appearances CNN, interview, Dec. 10, 2006.CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, "Blood Diamonds may dull gems' gleam," Dec. 11, 2006. NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, "Conflict diamonds receive attention from Hollywood," Dec. 13, 2006. History Channel: "Blood Diamonds," on-camera interview, aired throughout 2007. This documentary won an Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special. National Public Radio, "Conflict Diamonds and the Kimberley Process," KOUW, Seattle, Wash. March 25, 2004. "Bling: Consequences and Repercussions," interview and narration on independent documentary directed by Kareem Eduard, 2004. Please enjoy the selected works featured throughout this Web site, and feel free to contact me. |
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