Novelist and Writing Coach John DeDakis is a former Senior Copy Editor on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." DeDakis (pronounced deh-DAY-kiss) is the author of five novels in the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense-thriller series: Fast Track, Bluff, Troubled Water, Bullet in the Chamber, and Fake.

 

Bullet in the Chamber is the winner of Reviewers Choice, Foreword INDIES, and Feathered Quill book awards. In his most recent novel, Fake, protagonist Lark Chadwick is a White House correspondent dealing with “fake news” in the era of #MeToo. Fake earned Honorable Mention for the Reviewers Choice Award and was a Finalist for two book awards: Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion, and the CLUE Award sponsored by the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA).

 

During his award-winning 45-year career in journalism (25 years at CNN), DeDakis has been a White House Correspondent and interviewed such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan.

 

DeDakis is a writing coach, manuscript editor, writing workshop leader, and has taught journalism at the University of Maryland – College Park, and American University in Washington, D.C.  He has also taught broadcast news writing in CNN’s Washington bureau.

 

DeDakis is also the host of the video podcast “One-to-One with John DeDakis” on YouTube.

 

DeDakis has led writing workshops at the Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington; The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland; The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis; The Muse in Norfolk, Virginia; and at the Chautauqua Institution in southern New York.  In 2013 he was the Writer in Residence at the Callenwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta. In 2021 he was a keynote speaker at the Colorado Gold Writer’s Conference in Denver.

He has led immersive writing workshops in County Donegal, Ireland, and aboard the Coral Princess on an 11-day cruise to the Panama Canal.

 

Website: www.johndedakis.com