About

The Man behind the courtroom thrillers

William Bernhardt

William Bernhardt is the author of over sixty books, including the Daniel Pike legal thriller series (#1 best-selling novel The Last Chance Lawyer). His previous works include the bestselling Ben Kincaid series, the historical novels Challengers of the Dust and The Florentine Poet, three books of poetry, and the Red Sneaker books on fiction writing. In addition, Bernhardt founded WriterCon Programs to mentor aspiring writers. WriterCon hosts an annual writers conference, an annual cruise, small-group writing retreats, a magazine, plus free bi-weekly e-newsletters and podcasts. More than three dozen of Bernhardt’s students have subsequently published with major houses. He is also the president/owner of Bernhardt Books, which publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

In addition to his novels and poetry, Bernhardt has written plays, a musical (book and score), humor, children stories, biography, and puzzles. He has edited two anthologies (Legal Briefs and Natural Suspect) as fundraisers for The Nature Conservancy and the Children’s Legal Defense Fund. In his spare time, he has enjoyed surfing, digging for dinosaurs, trekking through the Himalayas, paragliding, scuba diving, caving, zip-lining over the canopy of the Costa Rican rainforest, and jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. In 2013, he became a Jeopardy! champion.

OSU has called Bernhardt “Oklahoma’s Renaissance Man.” In 2017, when Bernhardt delivered the keynote address at the San Francisco Writers Conference, chairman Michael Larsen noted that in addition to penning novels, Bernhardt can “write a sonnet, play a sonata, plant a garden, try a lawsuit, teach a class, cook a gourmet meal, beat you at Scrabble, and work the New York Times crossword in under five minutes.”

Recognition

Awards & Accolades

Southern Writers Guild’s Gold Medal Award

Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania)

H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State)

Oklahoma Book Award Nominations (19 times) 

Oklahoma Book Award (2x Winner)

Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book

Beyond Books

Other Endeavors

Mentoring

Mentoring

Working with other writers indivudally to reach their writing goals.
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WriterCon

WriterCon

2025 will be our 19th Annual WriterCon in OKC. Join us!
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Speaking

Speaking

Equipped to speak to your group or at your event. Virtually or in-person.
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Behind the Scenes

Cat Lover & Karaoke Master