Daleen Berry

Biography

Daleen Berry is a New York Times best-selling author and an award-winning investigative journalist. She has authored or co-authored five books, including her most recent, GUILT BY MATRIMONY (2015), about the police investigation into the murder of Aspen heiress Nancy Pfister. Berry’s New York Times status came about due to her work on PRETTY LITTLE KILLERS and THE SAVAGE MURDER OF SKYLAR NEESE (2014), about the murder of a Morgantown, W.Va. teenager.

Berry’s professional writing career began at the Preston County Journal in 1988. Two years later, she received a first-place award for investigative journalism from the West Virginia Press Association. It was the first of many awards. For the next twenty-five years, Berry wrote for newspapers around the country and published law enforcement journals for law enforcement agencies such as the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff’s Association and West Virginia Fraternal Order of Police.

She came to be known as an expert in the field of child sexual abuse and domestic violence, after decades of research and writing about topics. Berry has also investigated and written about many criminal and civil trials during her time as a crime reporter. More recently, she has written for the Associated Press, the Daily Beast and Huffington Post. Berry’s keen insight into the human psyche, her deep compassion, and her sensitivity allow her access to personal stories that were off limits to other reporters.

Berry’s memoir, SISTER OF SILENCE, details her journey from sexual abuse victim to survivor while growing up in Appalachia. Ken Lanning, an FBI special agent and one of the country’s renowned profilers, wrote the book’s foreword. Therapists are now using Berry’s book to help people understand their ability to speak out, overcome their fears, and achieve personal power. Students and instructors at Johns Hopkins University, UC Berkeley, Towson University, Oklahoma City University, and elsewhere are using Sister of Silence in the classroom. It has received both critical and popular acclaim.

After a 2012 interview on The Bob Edwards Show, the veteran broadcast journalist and former NPR Morning Edition host called Berry a “magnificent storyteller.” Kirkus Reviews calls her “an engaging writer, her style fluid, with welcome touches of humor and sustained tension throughout.” SISTER OF SILENCE was awarded first place in the Appalachian Theme category of the West Virginia Writers’ Competition. In 2012, Berry’s as-yet-unpublished book, LETHAL SILENCE, took first place in the Pearl Buck Award in Writing for Social Change category, given jointly by West Virginia Writers and the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation.

Berry is an experienced public speaker who has delivered a TED talk and various speeches at conferences around the country, including Connecticut College’s program, “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” She has also spoken to students at Johns Hopkins University, UC Berkeley, and Penn State University, where her memoir has been used in the classroom.

Berry and her books have appeared on the Dr. Phil Show, 20/20, Crime Watch Today, 48 Hours, the TODAY show, Dateline, Lifetime, Discovery ID, and in international publications such as Elle and People magazines. In 2016, she is slated to appear on TV episodes for Oxygen Network and Discovery International.

Where to find Daleen Berry online

Books

Tales of the Vintage Berry Wine Gang
Price: $5.99 USD. Words: 71,880. Language: English. Published: April 3, 2016 . Categories: Nonfiction » Relationships & Family » Motherhood, Nonfiction » Parenting » Childhood development
Devoted fans of New York Times Best-Selling Author Daleen Berry’s weekly newspaper column will be happy to hear those old yellowed clippings have been compiled into a book—and new material has been added! Using humor to draw from the antics of her four rambunctious children, Tales of the Vintage Berry Wine Gang will make you wonder about that crazy, loveable, dysfunctional world we call “family."
Sister of Silence: A Memoir (Appalachian Families Book 1)
Price: $7.99 USD. Words: 108,190. Language: English. Published: November 23, 2011 . Categories: Nonfiction » Relationships & Family » Family relationships, Nonfiction » Biography » Editors, journalists, & publishers
Follow Daleen Berry’s personal journey from coal miner’s wife to teen mom to New York Times best-selling author. After a shotgun wedding, Daleen found herself barefoot and pregnant—and by age 21, the mother of four who became determined to break the silence that shatters women and children's lives. A riveting true story this memoir demonstrates the astonishing resilience of the human spirit.

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