About

Hale spent his childhood in Georgia and youth in Missouri, but has lived in Illinois for most of his adult life. Brief transitional years were spent in California and Florida. He attended seven different schools in three different states from grades 6 through 10, which he claims either made him a better person or made him worse. At minimum, it made him resilient. 

Before devoting his work life to writing, Hale was a college professor of mass media, communication, film, and scriptwriting. He continues to teach part-time.

He has also written and directed for the stage. Several of his one-act plays somehow managed to win playwriting awards.  

Among Hale’s favorite writers are Kurt Vonnegut, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Eckhart Tolle, Malcolm Gladwell, George Carlin, Paddy Chayefsky, Fredrik Backman, Margaret Atwood, Linda Ellerbee, and Don Henley.

He is married and currently resides in the Chicago area.

A list of novels Hale identifies as having most impressed him includes To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.