Bryan Denson is an American author and investigative journalist who often writes about spies, terrorists, and other national security issues. His work won the 2006 George Polk Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize during his 20-year career at ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'' newspaper and oregonlive.com.

Background

Denson studied film-video from 1976 to 1981 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He completed a leg of 100-man, 100-mile relay that set a Guinness Book of World Records for the Mass Relay (a record that held for more than 16 years). Six months later Denson placed 19th in the 1981 Maryland Marathon, later publishing a story about the race – "Honey, take my picture quick!: Racing with Bill Rodgers" – in ''Running Times'' magazine. He then pivoted to full-time freelance writing. From 1982 to 2016, Denson worked as a reporter at five daily newspapers: the ''Palestine (Texas) Herald-Press'', ''The Frederick (Maryland) News-Post'', the ''York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record'', ''The Houston Post'', and

''. He worked a beat called The Fringe for several years at ''The Oregonian'', reporting about people on the margins of society: anarchists, outlaw bikers, witches, eco-terrorists, cultists, caviar smugglers, nudists, neo-Nazis, UFO devotees, anti-racist skinheads, felonious swindling gypsies, animal-rights extremists, survivalists, purveyors of "murderabilia," and members of right-wing patriot and militia groups.'' Denson's stories have appeared in ''Newsweek'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The New York Times'', ''Mother Jones'', ''Reader’s Digest'', ''Maxim'', ''The Economist'', ''Running Times'', and the ''Nieman Reports.'' He also served on the board of directors for Underscore.news, a nonprofit newsroom that tells stories about marginalized communities, with a special focus on Indian Country.

Books

*''The Spy’s Son: The True Story of the Highest-Ranking CIA Officer Ever Convicted of Espionage and the Son He Trained to Spy for Russia'' (Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 2015). a finalist for the William E. Colby Award and the Audible version of the book was read by voice actor Jason Culp, son of the 1960s TV spy

Robert Culp Robert Martin Culp (August 16, 1930 – March 24, 2010) was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on ''I Spy (1965 TV series), I Spy'' ( ...

. *''The Unabomber: Agent Kathy Puckett and the Hunt for a Serial Bomber'' (Macmillan, Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2019). This is the first installment of The FBI Files, Denson’s nonfiction book series for middle grade readers. The Junior Library Guild named the book a Gold Standard Selection. *''Catching a Russian Spy: Agent Leslie G. Wiser, Jr., and the Case of Aldrich Ames'' (Macmillan, Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2020). The second book in the FBI Files series takes readers inside the thrilling investigation of CIA turncoat Aldrich H. Ames. *''Uncovering a Terrorist: Agent Ryan Dwyer and the Case of the Portland Bomb Plot'' (Macmillan, Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2020). The final book in the FBI Files series

Select National Awards

*2012: Second place, The Society for Features Journalism Excellence in Feature Writing, for "The Spy's Kid," a news series in ''The Oregonian'' about the Harold James Nicholson spy cases. *2008: Finalist for the Investigative Reporters & Editors Awards (with Brent Walth), for stories on the Social Security Administration's multi-year backlog of disability cases and the horrors it wrought on Americans with disabilities. *2007: Finalist, The

Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily ...

(with Jeff Kosseff and Les Zaitz) for stories that exposed scandal among nonprofit contractors in the U.S. government’s biggest jobs program for Americans with disabilities, created by the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (JWOD). *2006: Winner of the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for National Reporting for the series on the JWOD scandal. *2002: Winner of the

Michael E. DeBakey Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was an American general surgery, general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor ...

Journalism Award for stories on failed, expensive, and duplicative efforts to clone rhesus macaque monkeys at a federal primate research center. *2000: Finalist for the John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism for a series on domestic terrorism attributed to the

Earth Liberation Front The Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for Wiktionary:autonomy, autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to ...

. *1994: Meritorious achievement citation from the

White House Correspondents' Association The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...

( Edgar A. Poe Award) for “The Price We Pay,” a news series that explored the enormous medical costs of violence through the story of a teenage stabbing victim. *1993: Finalist for the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards and the

Livingston Award The Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan are American journalism awards issued to media professionals under the age of 35 for local, national, and international reporting. They are the largest, all-media, general reporting prizes in Amer ...

s for Young Journalists for “The Slaying of a Generation,” a news series on an epidemic surge of gunfire deaths among Black teenagers in Houston, 47 of whom died in one year.

Personal life

Denson lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife Kristin Quinlan, chief executive officer of Certified Languages International.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denson, Bryan 21st-century American journalists American male journalists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni 20th-century American journalists The Oregonian people Journalists from Texas Journalists from Maryland American investigative journalists 21st-century American male writers Journalists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male writers