Neal Thompson Email & Phone Number

Seattle, WA, US

Seattle, Washington, United States

Research and write full-season episode scripts for Wondery's hit podcasts American History Tellers and Against the Odds. Seasons include The Titanic, The Pinkerton Detective Agency, The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, First Ladies, Great American Authors, Hawaii's Journey to Statehood, Presidential Assassinations, and more. Contribute to content planning.

Seattle, Washington, United States

In 2020, I left Amazon to write my sixth book, THE FIRST KENNEDYS: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty, which was published in 2022. I spent 2022-2023 promoting the book, including a John F. Kennedy Library Forum, appearances at the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Kennedy Summer School in New Ross, Ireland, and articles for People magazine.

Greater Seattle Area

As a core member of dynamic Amazon in the Community startup team, I led/managed community partnerships, corporate grant-giving to nonprofits, employee engagement and volunteer initiatives. Projects included childhood hunger awareness campaign (Rise & Smile); partnering with Seattle's Alliance for Education to develop a "Right Now Needs Fund" for Seattle.

Greater Seattle Area

As director of the Amazon Literary Partnership (AmazonLiteraryPartnership.com), I provided grants to authors and nonprofit literary organizations such as PEN America, Lambda, the National Book Foundation, Yaddo, the Asian American Writers' Workshop, Poets & Writers, Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, Hugo House, and Girls Write Now. Led program overhaul (naming.

Greater Seattle Area

As manager of the influential Best Books of the Month program, I led the selection and promotion of editorially curated book lists shared with millions of Amazon customers, impacting book sales and boosting authors' careers while generating eight-figure annual sales for Amazon. I redesigned and co-managed the Amazon Book Review (previously.

Greater Seattle Area

During 2+ years on the board, I served on the executive search committee, resulting in the hiring of a new executive director who led a turnaround for the organization; chaired the Governance Committee, overseeing recruitment of new board members; and served on the Programming Committee, assisting the programming director in bringing top authors to SAL's.

• In 2001, I took a book leave from the Baltimore Sun, then left the newspaper in 2002 to write books full time. My first book, LIGHT THIS CANDLE, was published in 2004, followed by DRIVING WITH THE DEVIL (2006, now in.
• “Thompson has given us a compelling and illuminating book” —Jon Meacham
• "A gifted, straightforward storyteller" —The Washington Post
• "The prose crackles" —The Kansas City Star
• "Deliriously entertaining" —Megan Abbott (L.A. Review of Books)
• “It's great storytelling" —Timothy Egan

Asheville, NC

Taught the "Telling the Truth" creative nonfiction class to aspiring journalists and authors, as part of the University of North Carolina's acclaimed Great Smokies Writing Program, in Asheville, NC.

Baltimore, MD

Spent my final years as a daily newspaper reporter specializing in narratives and investigative stories about sailors, soldiers and spies as military/intelligence writer. Also covered labor, politics, City Hall. Prior full-time newspaper roles at:-The Bergen Record-The St. Petersburg Times-The Roanoke (Va) Times & World News-The Philadelphia Inquirer