Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane is a screenwriter and author of American descent. He specializes in crime fiction and mystery. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. Dennis lived a happy childhood, and this sets the premise of most of his books.

He has four siblings. Dennis's father worked as Sears & Roebuck's foreman while his mother was an employee at the Boston public school's cafeteria. His parents were aboriginally from Ireland. He attended Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida, Boston College High School, and Florida International University, Miami, Florida.

While studying at Eckerd College, Dennis discovered his passion for writing. One of his brother, Gerry Lehane, took training from the Trinity Repertory Company, Providence and is an actor. He is also a member of the Invisible City Theatre Company.

In 1994, he published his first book named A Drink Before the War. He won the Shamus Award for this book. Dennis followed it up with Prayers for Rain, World Gone By and Since We Fell. Leading filmmakers have adopted several of his work for the big screen.

After achieving literary success, Dennis moved on to writing screenplays, directing movies, and teaching at educational institutions like Harvard University. Initially, he didn't want to take up scriptwriting, but after the success of some of the shows based on his novels, he decided to start scriptwriting.

Some of his works are Neighborhoods, The Wire, and others. He was one of the directors of Pine Manor College's Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program. In 2005, Dennis' Alma mater conferred upon him the Doctor of Humane Letters degree. In the same year, he also became one of its trustees.

In 2011, Mayor Thomas Menino included him in the Boston Public Library's Board of trustees. Dennis is the recipient of USC Scripter Awards, Joseph E. Connor Award, and others. Emerson College made him Phi Alpha Tau professional fraternity's honorary brother.

In 2015, he won a spot in the Best American Mystery Stories.Dennis co-directs a conference named Writers in Paradise every year in the month of January. In 2017, he used a racial slur while giving a commencement speech at the Emerson College.

It leads to a humongous controversy, and Dennis had to tender an apology. His first wife Sheila Lawn was an ex-advocate and Suffolk County District Attorney's Assistant District Attorney. After Dennis' first divorce he got hitched to Dr. Angela Bernardo. The couple had a daughter and a pet beagle named Tessa. However, in 2012, he lost Tessa.