BIOGRAPHY
Dirk Johnson is a journalist and author best known nationally for his award-winning work for The New York Times and Newsweek. He has also appeared on more than 200 televsion and radio shows, including The Today Show, CNN with Wolf Blitzer, ESPN's Cold Pizza and National Public Radio.

Johnson is the author of two books, "Biting The Dust: The Wild Ride and Dark Romance of The Rodeo Cowboy and the American West" (Simon & Schuster, 1994; acquired and published in paperback by Bison Publishing, 2005) and, "Meth: The Home-Made Menace" (Hazelden Publishing, 2005).

Johnson offers workshops for aspiring freelance writers, as well as for students who want to hone their narrative skills. He can also be retained as an editorial consultant on individual book projects, from inception to proofreading.

A compelling speaker, Johnson is available for public appearances to groups. He can recount the drama of some of America's biggest stories, including the massacres at Columbine and Oklahoma City. He can also offer insights from interviews with political heavyweights such as Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, Al Gore, Jesse Ventura, Mayor Richard Daley, and many others. Johnson can tell the stories that never reach print.

Johnson is a five-time winner of The New York Times Publisher's Award and has earned the Best-in-Contest Award from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. He has served as guest faculty member at the prestigious Poynter Institute for Journalism.

His work frequently appears in Chicago magazine. He also lectures on writing at Northern Illinois University and serves as a senior advisor for APCO, a world-wide public relations firm headquartered in Washington.