Alan Prendergast

ALAN PRENDERGAST is an award-winning journalist whose stories about the justice system, historic crimes, high-security prisons, and "death by misadventure" have appeared in a wide range of magazines and anthologies, including The Best American Crime Reporting, The Best American Sports Writing and the true-crime anthology Seven Sins. He is the author of a book about the Richard Jahnke child abuse and parricide case, The Poison Tree (Open Road Media), and Gangbuster (Citadel Press), a narrative nonfiction account of the life and times of Philip Van Cise, the Denver district attorney who battled the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, when the KKK was in the process of taking political control of Colorado. 

A longtime staff writer for the Denver newsweekly Westword, Prendergast has also written for Rolling Stone, Outside, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Men's Journal, and other regional and national publications. He served as consultant and reporter for a CBS News one-hour documentary about the Columbine shootings that aired on 60 Minutes and was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding investigative journalism. His centenary account of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre won one of the country's most prestigious feature competitions, the Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award, and many of his  other works of archival reporting have received accolades as well.

A Denver native, Prendergast has a master's degree in journalism from Ohio State University, where he studied as a Kiplinger Fellow. He teaches journalism at Colorado College and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, NPR, the BBC and numerous other television, radio, and podcast programs to discuss his work. 


 

Recent Appearances/Events

Date Venue Address
Date: April 24, 2024
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Venue: Highlands Ranch Mansion Address: 9950 E. Gateway Drive
Highlands Ranch, CO
Notes: Landmark Lecture Series: "Con Men and Klansmen: Colorado 100 Years Ago"
Date: February 21, 2024
1:00pm - 2:00pm (and 7-8pm)
Venue: History Colorado Center Address: 1200 Broadway
Denver, CO
Notes: Rosenberry Lecture: "Con Men and Klansmen: Denver 100 Years Ago"
Date: November 7, 2023
5:30pm - 6:30pm
Venue: Tread of Pioneers Museum Address: 845 Howelsen Parkway
Steamboat Springs, CO
Notes: "Con Men and Klansmen: Extremism 100 Years Ago and Today," History Happy Hour lecture and book signing
Date: September 29, 2023
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Venue: SunFest 2023 Address: Auraria Higher Education Center
Denver, CO
Notes: "A 100-Year Look Back at Denver in Fact and Fiction" with authors Alan Prendergast and Patricia Raybon
Date: September 15, 2023
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Venue: Mutiny Trinidad Address: 135 E. Main St.
Trinidad, CO
Notes: Book signing and discussion
Date: September 14, 2023
1:30pm - 3:00pm
Venue: University of Denver Address: Anderson Academic Commons 290, 2150 E. Evans
Denver, CO
Notes: ULA Lecture Series: "Gangbuster Phil Van Cise's Fight to Save Denver From the Klan 100 Years Ago"
Date: August 23, 2023
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Venue: Boulder Bookstore Address: 1107 Pearl Street
Boulder, CO
Notes: Signing and conversation with historic true crime authors Silvia Pettem and Alan Prendergast.
Date: June 10, 2023
9:00am - 4:00pm
Venue: Dallas Central Library Address: 1515 Young St.
Dallas, TX
Notes: True Crime MiniCon Panels & Signing
Date: May 20, 2023
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Venue: Sam Gary Branch Library Address: 2961 Roslyn Street
Denver, Colorado
Notes: Author talk and reading, Q&A, signing.
Date: May 6, 2023
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Venue: Mountain of Authors Address: 1175 Chapel Hills Drive
Colorado Springs, CO
Notes: Keynote lecture, Q&A, signing
Date: April 27, 2023
6:30pm - 7:30pm
Venue: Denver Press Club Address: 1330 Glenarm Place
Denver, Colorado 80204
Notes: "Gangbuster: A Journalist's Approach to Local History"
Date: April 18, 2023
5:00pm - 6:00pm
Venue: Colorado College Address: 720 N. Tejon St.
Colorado Springs, CO
Notes: Talk: "Con Men, Klansmen, and Archival Reporting"
Date: March 31, 2023
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Venue: Tattered Cover Colfax Address: 2526 E. Colfax Avenue
Denver, Colorado
Notes: GANGBUSTER launch/signing/conversation