Chris Dahl

Born New York City, Chris Dahl has lived in Florida for nine years now. He started off writing fiction but gravitated toward non-fiction and ended up creating the Death Row Stories series. In this series, he sculpted the letters of Death Row inmates into their life-stories, which reflects both the horror and the humanity of these men. To pay... more »

Born New York City, Chris Dahl has lived in Florida for nine years now. He started off writing fiction but gravitated toward non-fiction and ended up creating the Death Row Stories series. In this series, he sculpted the letters of Death Row inmates into their life-stories, which reflects both the horror and the humanity of these men. To pay the bills, he teaches high school and bartends

"How I Got Into True Crime Writing":

I got into writing true crime kind of by mistake. The librarian at the high school where I teach English asked me if i wanted to investigate the death of her father-in-law, and so I did. That led me to start writing to Death Row prisoners, which led to an array of life-stories that were , basically, inexplicable. They were rapists, thieves, and killers. They were are worst nightmares as "normal" citizens. It devoured me. After hundreds of letters, a series of books took shape: The Death Row Stories. One was a lifelong witch and pagan; one was a Simon City Royal gangster; one killed the nephew of Senator John Edwards -- the last book is a collection of art from Death Row. I am getting back into fiction now but this walk down Death Row was interesting, brutal and fascinating.nds when he gets the gigs. « less