Personal Summary

Adjunct professor Gwen Florio teaches reporting, drawing on her years as a staff writer and editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and the Missoulian. 

She covered stories ranging from the murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey and the mass shooting at Columbine High School, to the glitz of the Miss America pageant and the more practical Miss Navajo contest, whose participants slaughter a sheep. She’s reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, as well as Lost Springs, Wyo., population three. 

Her award-winning journalism led to a federal investigation on the handling of sexual assault cases, and to news laws in Montana designed to protect at-risk teens in private, for-profit programs. 

Florio’s first novel, Montana, won the inaugural national Pinckley Prize for debut crime novel, and a High Plains Book Award. Her seventh novel, Best Laid Plans, is set for publication in February 2021. She lives in Missoula, Montana.