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 newspaper and oregonlive.com.[1][2]
Denson studied film-video from 1976 to 1981 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.[citation needed] 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.[3] [4]
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 The Oregonian. 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.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
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.[10] [11] [12][13][14][15][16][17] 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.[18] [19]
Denson lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife Kristin Quinlan, chief executive officer of Certified Languages International.