Randall Denley
Randall Denley is a Canadian journalist, author. He was a renowned columnist for the Ottawa Citizen for a time straddling the turn of the millennium.[1]
Randall Denley | |
---|---|
Born | London, Ontario |
Occupation | novelist, journalist |
Nationality | Canadian |
Period | 2000s-present |
Notable works | The Perfect Candidate |
Website | |
www |
Biography
Born and raised in London, Ontario, Denley graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a journalism degree in 1973.[1] He spent several years as a journalist and editor for the Owen Sound Sun Times[1] before joining the Citizen as a journalist in 1983.[1] In 1992, he moved from the regular journalism beat to a political column with the paper, writing about both municipal and provincial politics.[1]
Denley's first novel, a murder mystery titled Necessary Victims, was serialized in the Citizen in 2004.[2] In 2006, he published The Perfect Candidate, a satire of local municipal politics in which Will Hacker, a former hockey player turned radio talk show host, is bribed by local developers to run a fake campaign for Mayor of Ottawa.[3] His third novel, a murder mystery titled One Dead Sister, was published in 2010.[3]
Denley took a leave of absence from the Citizen in 2011 to run as an Ontario Progressive Conservative Party candidate in Ottawa West—Nepean for the 2011 provincial election.[4] He briefly returned to the Citizen as an editorial writer after losing the election to incumbent MPP Bob Chiarelli, but retired from the paper in 2012.[5] He ran again in the 2014 election,[5] again losing to Chiarelli.[6]
Denley now publishes the occasional op-ed in newspapers like the National Post.
References
- "Making the jump to politics". Toronto Sun, September 3, 2011.
- "Columnist turns sights from City Hall to city streets". Ottawa Citizen, June 26, 2004.
- "London native marries reality, fiction in latest book". London Free Press, December 21, 2010.
- "Citizen columnist to run for Tories against Chiarelli". CBC News, May 17, 2011.
- "Candidates in Ottawa West-Nepean riding share a fraught political past". The Globe and Mail, May 18, 2014.
- "Liberal Bob Chiarelli holds seat in Ottawa West-Nepean". Global News, June 12, 2014.