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Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick Radden Keefe (born 1976) is an American writer and investigative journalist. He is the author of six books—Chatter (2005), The Snakehead (2009), Say Nothing (2018), Empire of Pain (2021), Rogues (2022), and London Falling (2026)—and has written extensively for many publications, including The New Yorker, Slate, and The New York Times Magazine. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker.
Keefe was born in 1976. He is the son of Frank Keefe, an urban planner and former Secretary of Administration and Finance of Massachusetts for governor Michael S. Dukakis, and Jennifer Radden, a professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts Boston. His great-grandparents were Irish immigrants from Donegal. Keefe grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts and attended Milton Academy.
He received his B.A. in history from Columbia University in 1999 where he was a resident of Schapiro Hall. He won a Marshall Scholarship in 1999.[citation needed] He then obtained a M.Phil. in international relations from Cambridge University at Hughes Hall and a M.Sc. in new media and informations systems from the London School of Economics. He then returned to the U.S. and earned a J.D. degree from Yale Law School. He passed the bar in 2005.
He has since received many fellowships, including those from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.[citation needed]
Keefe began writing and submitting articles to newspapers and magazines in 1998. In 2004, he received a New York Public Library fellowship and took a year off of law school to write his first book Chatter. After Keefe finished law school, he briefly worked as a Hollywood screenwriter. He then became a fellow for the Century Foundation. From 2010 to 2011, he was a policy adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
In 2012, Keefe was hired full time by The New Yorker. His investigative reporting has covered a broad range of topics including drug trafficking and legalization, organized crime mass surveillance, modern American politics, The Troubles, the opioid epidemic, and financial crime. Notably, he has turned several of his New Yorker articles into non-fiction books.
Keefe is the host of the 2020 podcast Wind of Change, which explores a rumor that the song "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions was secretly written by the CIA, rather than by the band's lead singer, Klaus Meine. Keefe won the 2021 Ambies award for "Best Podcast Host".
In 2025, Keefe was hired by J.Crew for a modeling campaign. The New York Times wrote that "Keefe has achieved a level of celebrity that most of his literary peers have probably never even considered: He has been a fashion model."
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Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick Radden Keefe (born 1976) is an American writer and investigative journalist. He is the author of six books—Chatter (2005), The Snakehead (2009), Say Nothing (2018), Empire of Pain (2021), Rogues (2022), and London Falling (2026)—and has written extensively for many publications, including The New Yorker, Slate, and The New York Times Magazine. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker.
Keefe was born in 1976. He is the son of Frank Keefe, an urban planner and former Secretary of Administration and Finance of Massachusetts for governor Michael S. Dukakis, and Jennifer Radden, a professor of philosophy at University of Massachusetts Boston. His great-grandparents were Irish immigrants from Donegal. Keefe grew up in Dorchester, Massachusetts and attended Milton Academy.
He received his B.A. in history from Columbia University in 1999 where he was a resident of Schapiro Hall. He won a Marshall Scholarship in 1999.[citation needed] He then obtained a M.Phil. in international relations from Cambridge University at Hughes Hall and a M.Sc. in new media and informations systems from the London School of Economics. He then returned to the U.S. and earned a J.D. degree from Yale Law School. He passed the bar in 2005.
He has since received many fellowships, including those from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.[citation needed]
Keefe began writing and submitting articles to newspapers and magazines in 1998. In 2004, he received a New York Public Library fellowship and took a year off of law school to write his first book Chatter. After Keefe finished law school, he briefly worked as a Hollywood screenwriter. He then became a fellow for the Century Foundation. From 2010 to 2011, he was a policy adviser in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
In 2012, Keefe was hired full time by The New Yorker. His investigative reporting has covered a broad range of topics including drug trafficking and legalization, organized crime mass surveillance, modern American politics, The Troubles, the opioid epidemic, and financial crime. Notably, he has turned several of his New Yorker articles into non-fiction books.
Keefe is the host of the 2020 podcast Wind of Change, which explores a rumor that the song "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions was secretly written by the CIA, rather than by the band's lead singer, Klaus Meine. Keefe won the 2021 Ambies award for "Best Podcast Host".
In 2025, Keefe was hired by J.Crew for a modeling campaign. The New York Times wrote that "Keefe has achieved a level of celebrity that most of his literary peers have probably never even considered: He has been a fashion model."