Dave Cullen

Dave Cullen is an American Non-fiction writer, freelance Journalist,[1] and Filmmaker.

Cullen is best known for the books Columbine and Parkland: Birth of a Movement, and twenty-six years covering LGBT troops in the military.

Both books were New York Times bestsellers, peaking at #3 and 14, respectively. Both received overwhelmingly positive reviews, were named to prominent best books of the year lists, and Columbine earned several major awards. (See awards section.)

His upcoming book, Don't Fall in Love: The Secret Lives of Two Gay Soldiers Hiding in Plain Sight, began as a 2-part, 11,000-word magazine story on those soldiers, which won the 2000 GLAAD Media Award for best online story of the year.[2] Cullen has been following and interviewing them ever since. The 26-year project is slated for a Fall 2026 release from HarperCollins.

By the time of the Parkland shooting, TV producers began calling Cullen while mass murders were still in progress. "On Feb. 14, 2018, at 3:13 p.m.—54 minutes after the shooting started at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. — Dave Cullen got a text from a producer at "Anderson Cooper 360," asking him to appear on the show that night," the New York Times reported. "At that point, he'd been covering mass killings for so long he had begun suffering from a secondary form of traumatic stress, sometimes 'sobbing all day, mostly in bed, then slumped in a chair.' " The story reported that by the end of the year covering the March for Our Live activists, "He began to heal. 'I had no idea how much sadness was still in me until I saw the 'after' picture from 10 months with them — the happy Dave from pre-Columbine,' he says."

Cullen described some of his writing process to the New York Times. He said he likes to write outside, so he chose apartments within walking distance to Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. He also opted for a balcony there. "If I need some fresh air and a different headspace, I can walk