About the author

Rich Dunning is a senior executive in the medical device industry with more than three decades of experience leading in high-stakes environments, where precision, accountability, and disciplined execution are required. His professional career has been built on navigating complex systems, managing risk, and operating under sustained pressure.

He was raised in the Bronx in an environment defined by instability, exposure, and the absence of protection. From an early age, he developed a level of awareness and control that shaped how he moved through the world. Those conditions did not remain confined to childhood. They informed his approach to leadership, decision-making, and ultimately, his writing.

He began writing Silence Was My First Language more than fifteen years ago and committed the equivalent of 10,000 hours to developing the manuscript. The work was built over time through sustained effort and revision and reflects a deliberate approach to structure, precision, and narrative control.

The book is constructed through tightly written, scene-driven passages that do not rely on interpretation or adjustment. It presents the material as it was lived.

Dunning is building a body of work that extends beyond memoir. In addition to Silence Was My First Language, he has completed two novels, The Jaguar and Selling Arteries to the Devil, both grounded in real-world experience and developed into fiction. He is currently working on additional manuscripts, including The Executive and the Escort and When in Puglia, continuing a disciplined and structured approach to long-form writing.