Christopher Goffard is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, author, and podcaster. He is a staff writer for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' and was a finalist for the

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for the ''Best First Novel.'' His podcast ''

Dirty John ''Dirty John'' is a true crime podcast based on the life of John Michael Meehan. The podcast is hosted by Christopher Goffard and was created by ''Wondery'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. The first two chapters were launched on October 2, 2017; t ...

'' has been downloaded more than 50 million times.

Life and career

Goffard grew up in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

with an English degree. His career first started by covering city hall, law enforcement, and court beats for The ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

''. Goffard's last story for ''St. Petersburg Times'' was "The $40 lawyer". In January 2006 Goffard became a staff writer for the ''

''. He wrote his first crime novel ''Snitch Jacket'' (2007) and was a finalist for the

For Best First Novel in 2008. His writing continued in 2011 with his second non-fiction book, ''You Will See Fire: A Search For Justice In Kenya'' (2012). Goffard's two-part series jump-started the Los Angeles Times’ first ebook ''A Nightmare Made Real''. Goffard also launched his podcast ''

'' in October 2017, which was later adapted into a TV series of the same name.

Pulitzer Prize

Goffard led the Pulitzer Prize-winning team of reporters who wrote "How Bell Hit Bottom''"'' in 2010. In 2007, Goffard became a Pulitzer Prize finalist for feature writing. In 2010, he was part of the investigative reporting team covering the city officials corruption of public funds in Bell, California. The

won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for public service. Goffard again became a Pulitzer Prize finalist for feature writing in 2014 for his story "The Manhunt For Christopher Dorner".

Other awards

"How Bell Hit Bottom" also won the

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for local reporting, the

Selden Ring Award The Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, given by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectar ...

for Investigative Reporting, and the American Society of News Editors Distinguished Writing Award for Local Accountability Reporting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goffard, Christopher Los Angeles Times people Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American crime writers American crime reporters Writers from Los Angeles American podcasters 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists American male journalists 21st-century American journalists Cornell University alumni