Author and CNN Senior Copy Editor John DeDakis is an editor and writer for the Emmy and Peabody-Award winning "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" (Mon.-Fri. 4-7pm ET and Saturday at 6pm ET).
DeDakis (pronounced deh-DAY-kiss) is the author of the mystery/suspense novel "Fast Track" published by ArcheBooks. It's the story of a young woman's search for purpose as she solves the mystery surrounding the car-train collision which orphaned her as an infant. The novel deals with issues of suicide, journalistic integrity, anonymous sources, and mentoring relationships.
"Fast Track" grew out of two events in the author's life: a fatal car/train crash he witnessed as a youngster in 1959 and the suicide of his sister in 1980.
His second novel, "Bluff," a sequel to "Fast Track," based on his four-day, 25-mile hike along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, will be published soon by ArcheBooks.
DeDakis, a native of La Crosse, Wisconsin, began his journalism career in 1969 at a campus radio station at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was tear gassed while covering an anti-Vietnam War riot in 1970. He earned a B.A. in Journalism from that university in 1977 following a stint in the U.S. Army where he worked from 1972-74 as a Special Events Reporter at The American Forces Network - Europe, based in Frankfurt, Germany.
DeDakis is a former White House Correspondent and has interviewed such luminaries as Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Alfred Hitchcock.
DeDakis has been with CNN since July 1988. From 2001 to 2005, he supervised the writing on CNN's "Daybreak," anchored by Carol Costello.
From 1976 to 1983, DeDakis was a reporter at WMTV (NBC) in Madison, Wisconsin. From 1983 to 1988, he was a correspondent with CBN News in Virginia Beach, Virginia and Washington, DC.
In addition to book signings and readings, DeDakis frequently speaks on the topic "From Journalist to Novelist: (Or How I Learned to Stop Telling the Truth and Start Making it Up)."
He is a lecturer at American University, Washington, D.C. where he taught a journalism and writing class for student interns during the summers of 2007/08. He is also an adjunct professor at Regent University, where he taught newswriting to grad students online in 2008.
In June 2009, he led an online seminar through Regent University on how to write a novel.
DeDakis is currently working with an agent to bring his screenplay adaptation of "Fast Track" to the attention of Hollywood and has begun writing book three in the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense series (working title: "Troubled Waters").
DeDakis is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. He is also a freelance manuscript editor.
His wife, Cynthia, a choral conductor, is the director of music at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church Whitemarsh near Philadelphia and national President of The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) in America.
John and Cindy divide their time between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
They have three grown children: Emily is working on her PhD in Creative Writing at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland; James is the drummer for the nationally-known band "Arizona"; and Stephen is a musician in Washington and a cook at Black's Restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland.
You're invited to send John DeDakis a friend request on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @johndedakis.
Accomplishments: DeDakis' awards include:
-An Emmy for his role in CNN's coverage of the 9/11 terror attacks
-The American Bar Association's Gavel Award for "Judges of the Facts," a television documentary on the jury system
-A UPI Wisconsin award for "The Cubans: Freedom and Frustration," a televsion documentary about the Cuban Boatlift of 1980.
-The U.S. military's Thomas Jefferson Award "for excellence in broadcasting" for the 1974 radio documentary "Telling it Like it Is in Pottsville, Pennsylvania" about the Army's Hometown Recruiting Program.
