Cari Lynn

Cari Lynn is a journalist and award-winning author of both nonfiction and fiction. She is the co-author of the 2018 NAACP Image Award winner for Outstanding Literary Work, Becoming Ms. Burton, about the life of criminal justice crusader Susan Burton. In the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof called the book "stunning" and deemed Susan Burton "a national treasure." The book is in the curriculum at numerous universities, including UCLA School of Law and Hofstra's School of Public Health.  

Previously, Cari wrote Kathryn Bolkovac's memoir, The Whistleblower, the true story of a police officer who busted a sex-trafficking ring involving her fellow officers. The Whistleblower received international attention and press and was presented at the United Nations and The Hague, as well as Cornell, Columbia, Loyola Law School, Brandeis, Vanderbilt, and Brown universities. The Whistleblower major motion picture starring Rachel Weisz and Vanessa Redgrave premiered in 2011. ​​

Cari wrote the nonfiction book Leg the Spread after she spent two years "undercover" in the vicious, open-outcry trading pits of Chicago. Receiving a Starred Kirkus review, the book was featured in numerous publications, from The Economist to O, The Oprah Magazine, and was named Readers' Choice by Elle. Cari was featured on CNN, PBS, and NPR, and Leg the Spread has been optioned by a major studio for a TV or film adaptation. 

Other books include the story of a doctor who rescued orphans from third-world countries, the story of a real-life Dr. Dolittle, and numerous ghost-written books for celebrities, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. Cari also wrote the historical novel Madam. 

As a journalist, she's written for the Wall Street Journal, O: The Oprah Magazine, the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter, Health, Good Housekeeping, the Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, the Guardian, Deadline Hollywood, and Awards line. Her short fiction has appeared in Nikki Finke's Hollywood Dementia.

Cari received an M.A. in Writing from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland. She completed a fellowship in Business Journalism at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. A long-time Chicagoan, she now lives in Los Angeles.