Ian Manuel
Advocate for criminal justice reform, poet, and motivational speaker
Pamela Colloff
Reporter at ProPublica, staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, and author of Catch the Devil
“Deeply reported storytelling changes what people can see.”
Photo credit: Peter Yang
Pamela Colloff is an award-winning journalist, a reporter at ProPublica, and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. A two-time National Magazine Award winner, she is known for deeply reported, morally urgent storytelling that exposes the underlying causes of wrongful convictions and reveals the human consequences of the criminal justice system. With the compulsive readability of a thriller, her book Catch the Devil tells the riveting true story of a con man whose false testimony helped send an innocent man to death row, where he has spent more than 30 years for a gruesome murder he did not commit. In gripping talks and conversations, Colloff takes audiences behind the scenes of major investigations, revealing how rigorous reporting, narrative craft, and a commitment to truth can expose our system’s failings and bring about meaningful change.
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About Pamela Colloff
Pamela Colloff is an award-winning journalist, reporter at ProPublica, and staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. A two-time National Magazine Award winner, she was honored for Reporting in 2020 and Feature Writing in 2013. Her debut book, Catch the Devil shares the riveting, true story of an audacious con man who helped send another man to death row for a murder he did not commit. A compelling speaker, Colloff offers a behind-the-scenes look at the reporting process, revealing how deeply reported storytelling can expose injustice, challenge conventional wisdom, and drive meaningful change.
Throughout her career, Colloff has been widely recognized for her investigative journalism and reporting. Before joining ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, she spent many years as a staff writer at Texas Monthly, where a 2010 investigation into the wrongful conviction of Anthony Graves was credited with helping secure his freedom after 18 years behind bars, including time on Texas’s death row. In recognition of her work, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awarded her the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism. Her work has been adapted for both narrative and documentary films, including Tower, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2016, and has been anthologized in Best American Magazine Writing, Best American Crime Reporting, and Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists.
Colloff’s book Catch the Devil tells the true story of Paul Skalnik, a manipulative con man whose false confessions sent Jim Dailey, a down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran, to death row for murder. Through years of investigative reporting, Colloff exposes how Skalnik exploited a justice system, leaving a trail of ruined lives while evading accountability himself. Praised as “incendiary, emotionally devastating” and “a feat of dogged reporting, bravura storytelling, and clear-eyed moral conscience” by Patrick Radden Keefe, Colloff’s mesmerizing debut spins a dark tale of a remorseless and brilliant liar made lethal by a system more concerned with winning convictions than finding the truth.
In illuminating and thought-provoking talks and Q&As, Colloff combines gripping narrative storytelling with behind-the-scenes accounts of the reporting process, offering audiences a rare look at how investigative journalism unfolds in real life. Drawing on her years of reporting, she shares the dead ends, surprising discoveries, and moral quandaries that shape major investigations, while exploring how stories of injustice can resonate far beyond the page. Colloff is passionate about reaching audiences who may not have previously thought deeply about the criminal justice system, fostering dialogue and finding common ground across diverse perspectives.
Colloff holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Brown University. Her work has garnered the Hillman Prize, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Reporting on Incarceration and Criminalization, the IRE Award, the Scripps Howard Award for Human Interest Storytelling, the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Journalism, and the MOLLY National Journalism Prize. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and their two children.
Contact us for more information about booking Pamela Colloff for your next event.
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Speaking Topics
Catch the Devil
Drawing from her book Catch the Devil, Pamela Colloff tells the riveting true story of Paul Skalnik, a con man whose false testimony helped send an innocent man to death row. In a talk that is part investigative expose, part psychological portrait, and part courtroom thriller, Colloff takes audiences inside the years-long reporting process behind the book, revealing how one man’s lies were enabled by systemic failures in the criminal justice system. This gripping talk explores truth, accountability, and the power of investigative storytelling to expose injustice.
Crafting a Compelling Story
Pamela Colloff is known for transforming complex investigations into immersive, compulsively readable narratives. In this talk, she shares how she builds a compelling story from the ground up – from finding the right structure and cultivating sources to balancing suspense, accuracy, and emotional depth. Audiences gain insight into how rigorous reporting and narrative craft can work together to capture attention and drive change.
Tools of the Investigative Journalist's Trade
In this behind-the-scenes talk, Pamela Colloff demystifies the investigative reporting process, sharing the tools and techniques that guide her work. She discusses how journalists develop sources, follow paper trails, analyze records, verify facts, and navigate dead ends. Drawing on examples from her own reporting, Colloff shows how persistence, skepticism, and careful listening can uncover stories that might otherwise remain hidden.
Exploring Capital Punishment, Jailhouse Informants, and Forensic Evidence for Legal Audiences
Drawing on years of reporting on wrongful convictions and the death penalty, Pamela Colloff examines the legal and human consequences of capital punishment, jailhouse informant testimony, and contested forensic evidence. Tailored for legal audiences, this talk explores how weak evidence, unreliable witnesses, and institutional pressures can shape outcomes in life-or-death cases. Colloff offers a journalist’s perspective on the gaps between legal procedure and lived reality – and why scrutiny, transparency, and accountability matter.
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Praise for Pamela Colloff
Praise for Catch the Devil
Pamela Colloff is one of our great chroniclers of crime and criminal justice, and in this incendiary, emotionally devastating book, she depicts a justice system turned completely inside out, in which the innocent are incarcerated and the guilty skip free. The conman at the heart of her story, Paul Skalnik, is as chilling and unrepentant as any movie villain. Catch the Devil is a feat of dogged reporting, bravura storytelling, and clear-eyed moral conscience.
— Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing and London FallingOne of America’s finest journalists, Pamela Colloff, has delivered a wallop of a debut book—loaded with moral clarity and astounding detail—about one of the world’s most infernal liars, the scores of lives he destroyed, and the criminal-justice system that still, shockingly, benefits from those lies.
— Robert Kolker, author of Hidden Valley RoadPamela Colloff’s writing sits at the perfect intersection of journalism and literature. Catch the Devil is a masterwork, deeply researched and thrillingly composed.
— Michael Finkel, author of The Art ThiefPamela Colloff has ripped the roof off the criminal justice system with this exposé of a jailhouse snitch. You can’t read this book without a feeling of horror that one man could do so much damage; but the real shock is that he was only telling prosecutors what they wanted him to say.
— Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and The Human ScaleA masterful and riveting anatomy of how a series of institutions colluded with one man’s pathology. I can’t imagine a more damning and poignant account of a criminal justice system that was, fundamentally, willing to be fooled—and the lives destroyed and transformed in that process.
— Rachel Aviv, author of Strangers to OurselvesYou read each page of Pamela Colloff’s subtly written and stunningly reported book with a deepening sense of outrage. How could this happen? How could the justice system be so remorseless, so intractably focused on protocol and career wins at the expense of justice itself? Catch the Devil is an infuriating, illuminating, gripping narrative by one of the heroes of American journalism.
— Stephen Harrigan, author of Sorrowful MysteriesA mesmerizing, often enraging portrait of a man whose skill at manipulating the judicial system led to untold injustices. Told with all the care, nuance, and dazzling reportage we expect from Pamela Colloff—one of the very best in the field right now—Catch the Devil reads like a literary thriller, rich in atmosphere and lively characters, but its larger resonances give it an extraordinary depth and its timeliness during America’s current grifter era could hardly be greater.
— Megan Abbott, author of El Dorado DrivePamela Colloff lights up the criminal justice system with a precision that leaves nowhere to hide. Catch the Devil is an extraordinary achievement, its narrative moving with the taut urgency of a thriller—anchored by the heart and humanity she brings to the pursuit of truth. An unforgettable masterwork from the leading voice in American crime reporting.
— Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the GroveVividly reported and artfully written, Colloff’s book is an enraging narrative of how one man can manipulate the criminal justice system. It’s also a joy to read thanks to her knack for storytelling and engrossing detail.
— Susan Orlean, author of Joyride and The Orchid ThiefAt the heart of Pamela Colloff’s impeccable, infuriating narrative sits a serial jailhouse snitch, Paul Skalnik. A monster of casual depravity, predatory instinct, and resolute amorality, Skalnik plays our criminal justice system like a fiddle, exposing an apparatus far more concerned with clearance rates than actual justice. The tragedy here lies not only in the countless miscarriages of justice in the name of it, but the countless lives obliterated in the process.
— Dennis Lehane, author of Small Mercies and Mystic RiverBoth a chilling profile of an evildoer and a glimpse into a fractured justice system, this enlightens and entertains in equal measure.
— Publishers Weekly -
Books by Pamela Colloff
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Media About Pamela Colloff
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Featured Title
Catch the Devil
“Incendiary, emotionally devastating. [This] is a feat of dogged reporting, bravura storytelling, and clear-eyed moral conscience.”
—Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing and London Falling
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