From my home base in the old Krupp Steel city of Essen, Germany, I deliver news and feature articles in print, web and radio in English and German. In writing, four things are sacred: accuracy, quality, deadlines and entertainment. All of my projects - whether a feature article, documentary or web piece - get the benefit of my 14 years experience and my love for language and storytelling. If you're looking for an American freelancer with expertise in German news, culture and history, drop me an email.
Current Projects
Fiction: "The Witch's Mark," published in the Page Forty-Seven online anthology
Award-winning Canadian novelist Pearl Luke has published my short story "The Witch's Mark" on her excellent website for fiction, www.be-a-better-writer.com. In the story, a man on the run encounters three tempting spirits in the Oklahoma desert.
Blog: Germans Drink Beer: astonishing discoveries from the land of the Teutons
Article: Germany's Rustbelt Goes Grun: the flowering of the Ruhr region
Coal, steel and manufacturing led to the rise of the Ruhr region, once the largest industrial conglomeration of cities in Europe. The smokestacks are gone now, the factories shuttered. Instead of destroying all trace of its sooty heritage, the Ruhr region is converting its brick and stone artifacts into theaters, housing developments and landscape parks that look to a green future with an eye on its proud past. A nonfiction travel and culture article.
Article: Schellenberg: Profile of a Nazi Spymaster
The rise and fall of Hitler's last foreign intelligence chief. This nonfiction article looks at Walter Schellenberg, SS general and war criminal who rose to power in the Third Reich's chaotic wartime intelligence services. "Many of my personal enemies picture me as a cold type," he said, "a person who acts according to a certain line, a calculating type." Ambitious, ruthless, and deceptively charming, Schellenberg used any means necessary to further his career, and to whitewash his reputation at the end of the war. (Photo courtesy of the Bundesarchiv Deutschland, dated September 1943).
Select former Projects
Rosie's Legacy: a family saga of the American auto industry
(Rosies Erbe: eine Familiensaga der amerikanischen Autoindustrie. DLF, ORF 2007/2008)
My hour-long German language radio news feature about the twilight of one family's 80-year link with the Rouge Factory in Detroit was broadcast across Germany and Austria in late 2007 and early 2008. This story was close to my heart because Detroit is my hometown.
