After college, she wrote for the advertising field, earning more than 70 Addy Awards for her work. During that time, she wrote as a freelance writer.
Her career shifted into nonprofit work with a move to New Braunfels, Texas. Fanning worked for fundraising groups, including Another Way Texas Shares[2] and the National Association for Choice in Giving. She began her first book while living in Texas. She is co-founder of Women in Crime Ink,[3] described by The Wall Street Journal as "a blog worth reading."[4]
In 2002, Fanning corresponded with serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells, who, in a letter to her, confessed to murdering 10-year-old Joel Kirkpatrick, whose mother had been convicted of killing her son. According to the Innocence Project, Fanning's testimony before a prison review board about the letter and her book Through the Window, which details Sells' crime spree, were said to help prove Harper's innocence.[5] In 2011, Fanning was given the Defenders of the Innocent Award by the Illinois Innocence Project for getting the confession from Sells.[6]
In 2006, her book Written in Blood received an Edgar Award nomination.[7]
Fanning has been interviewed for CBS's "48 Hours Mystery" in November 2009 and Investigation Discovery in 2010 and 2011.[8] CBS's "Crimesider" column featured her in a story about the Casey Anthony case.[9]
Awards
2001: Freedom Fighter Award, National Alliance for Choice in Giving[10]
2011: Defenders of the Innocent Award, Illinois Innocence Project[11]
^Ball, Andrea (2005-10-16). "Charity workers also adventurers, athletes, writers". Austin American-Statesman. Diane Fanning, who works with the nonprofit fundraising group Another Way Texas Shares, spends her time writing true crime books.
