2021 Colorado Gold Keynote Speaker John DeDakis Jul 16, 2021

Novelist and writing coach John DeDakis is a former editor on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." DeDakis is the author of five mystery-suspense novels. His fourth novel, Bullet in the Chamber, was 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 trying to walk the line between personal feelings and dispassionate objectivity in the era of “fake news” and #MeToo. Fake earned Honorable Mention for the Reviewers Choice Award and was a Finalist for Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award. DeDakis, a former White House correspondent, is a manuscript editor, and regularly teaches novel writing online and at literary centers, writers’ conferences, and bookstores around the country and abroad. He is also a jazz drummer. DeDakis will be a keynote speaker at Colorado Gold in Denver (Oct. 15 to 17) and is also teaching a master class.