Rich Dunning | Memoirist. Novelist. Truth-Teller.
Coming November 19, 2026.
Silence Was My First Language will be available in hardcover and digital formats.
Preorders opening this Summer.
Breaking the Silence Initiative
Beginning with the first copy sold of Silence Was My First Language, one dollar from every book written by Rich Dunning will be donated to organizations working to protect vulnerable children.
This commitment will continue with every book published in the future. Please see page below for mor information.
I write books shaped by survival, sharpened by truth, and unapologetically unfiltered.
My first book, Silence Was My First Language, is a memoir about growing up in a Bronx basement where silence wasn’t just a choice, it was a weapon. This is not a story about healing. It is a story about what it means to endure violence, betrayal, abandonment, and homelessness when no one is coming to save you. It is raw, unflinching, and written for every person who was forced to carry their pain in silence.
The novels that follow are fiction, but they are built on real-world scars.
Selling Arteries to the Devil is a corporate thriller that exposes how ambition, corruption, and unchecked greed can infect the medical system from the inside out. It’s inspired by the world I know too well where billion-dollar devices are launched on half-truths and lives become collateral damage.
The Jaguar follows a mother and child on a brutal journey from the slums of El Salvador to the edge of the American dream. It is a novel about love, sacrifice, and what it truly costs to seek safety in a world that has none to offer.
These books are not meant to comfort you. They ask hard questions, leave bruises, and speak for the ones who never had a chance to.
I don’t write for entertainment.
I write because I refuse to let the language of silence win.
Breaking the Silence Initiative
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Breaking the Silence Initiative *
Some stories exist simply to be told. Others carry a responsibility once they reach the world.
Silence Was My First Language is a memoir about growing up in an environment where speaking openly carried consequences. It is a story shaped by fear, instability, violence, and the quiet weight of secrets that children are often expected to carry alone.
While writing the book, one truth continued to return with clarity. Children are often silent when the worst things happen to them.
They are not silent because they lack courage. They are silent because silence is taught to them. Silence protects families, reputations, and systems that would rather look away than confront what happens behind closed doors. The people who carry the greatest burden of that silence are children who never had the power to protect themselves in the first place.
For that reason, this story could never exist only as a memoir. It needed to stand for something beyond the pages themselves.
The Commitment
Beginning with the first copy sold of Silence Was My First Language and continuing with every book I write in the future, one dollar from every book will be donated to organizations working to protect vulnerable children.
This commitment will continue for every book published in the years ahead. If this story reaches readers, it should also contribute in a tangible way to protecting children whose voices are still unheard.
Organizations Supported
The Breaking the Silence Initiative supports organizations addressing some of the most urgent challenges facing vulnerable children.
Covenant House
Providing shelter, safety, counseling, and long-term support for homeless and trafficked youth.
No Kid Hungry
Working to end childhood hunger by connecting children with reliable meal programs.
Darkness to Light
Preventing child sexual abuse through education and training that equips adults to recognize and stop abuse.
A Long-Term Commitment
What begins with a single memoir will continue with every book that follows.
Follow the Journey
Silence Was My First Language is currently moving through line and copy editing and is scheduled for release in November 2026.
If you would like to follow the journey of the book and the progress of the Breaking the Silence Initiative, you are welcome to submit your information on the contact page.
My Brand Vision
Rich Dunning is a writer who turns silence into story.
His work exists to elevate the unheard, expose what’s hidden, and offer unapologetic voice to the ones who survived what no one should. Through memoir and literary fiction, he writes with precision, power, and purpose refusing to flinch, and refusing to stay quiet.
Contact Us
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