Al Pessin
AUTHOR

Al Pessin

Literature & Fiction
Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
Al Pessin www.alpessin.com Al Pessin’s first novel, the thriller SANDBLAST, was published by Kensington in March, 2020. The book was shortlisted for the 2017 Bosque Fiction Award and was a top-five selection among all unpublished book-length submissions, fiction and nonfiction, in the 2018 Royal Palm Literary Awards, presented by the Florida Writers Association. His short, short story, JIMMY’S HOUR was also a 2018 RPLA finalist. Book Two in the Task Force Epsilon series, BLOWBACK, was published February 23, 2021, and book three SHOCK WAVE, is scheduled for January of 2022. Al’s to-the-point style and decades of frontline reporting deliver a high-tension veritas few can match. He has filed from the Afghanistan and Iraq war zones, dined with mujahedeen in Pakistan, interviewed Hamas militants in Gaza, and been posted at the White House and the Pentagon, just to name a few of his relevant assignments. Al was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years, based in Hong Kong, Islamabad, Beijing, Jerusalem and London. In all, he spent thirty-nine years as a TV/radio broadcaster, correspondent, editor and manager at the Voice of America. His most recent assignments had him reporting from the war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Ukraine, while previous decades saw him in Gaza, the West Bank, Eastern Turkey, the Philippines and Southeast Asian refugee camps. After the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989, the Chinese government expelled Al for “illegal news gathering” and “fomenting counter-revolutionary rebellion.” That year, he received the Communicator of the Year Award from the National Association of Government Communicators and won a Gold Medal at the International Radio Festivals of New York. For five years in the 2000s, Al was an adjunct instructor at his alma mater, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He has also spoken on China, journalism and national security at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Virginia. For several years, Al was a member of the editorial board of the Foreign Service Journal. In 2016, Al had a humor piece about the presidential election published on politico.com. In recent years, he has also had OpEds published in the Los Angeles Times, thehill.com and DefenseOne.com. Earlier in his career, he had long-form articles in The Quill, The Gannett Center Journal, and the Northwestern Alumni Magazine Al’s two-act play, a farce called MURDER AT THE BUTCHER’S, played to four sold-out houses at its world premiere in November, 2019. Al lives in Florida with his wife Audrey and their precocious Labrador, Rory. -0-
Read more Read less

Try Audible membership today. Start enjoying the benefits.

Try Audible for free with an audiobook of your choice.
Try Premium Plus free
Automatically renews at AUD $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Most Popular

Product list
  • Sandblast cover art

    Non-member price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $26.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00
  • Blowback cover art

    Non-member price: $24.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $24.99 or 1 Credit

    Try for $0.00