2015-2017 Writer In Residence: David W. Berner

The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park is proud to announce its 2015-2017 Writer in Residence, David W. Berner.

David is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author, and associate professor at Columbia College Chicago.

His first book, Accidental Lessons (Strategic Publishing) was awarded the 2011 Royal Dragonfly Grand Prize for Literature. His memoir, October Song, won the Royal Dragonfly Award in 2017. His second memoir, Any Road Will Take You There (Dream of Things Publishing) won the 2013 Book of the Year Award from the Chicago Writer's Association for nontraditional nonfiction and was short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Award. The Chicago Book Review named his collection of essays, There’s a Hamster in the Dashboard, a “book of the year” in 2015.

In 2011, David was named the Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project. He lived and worked in Kerouac's historic home in Orlando for a period of three months.

You also may have heard his voice regularly on the radio. He's a reporter and news anchor for Chicago’s WBBM, and is a regular contributor to the CBS Radio Network. David’s audio documentaries have been heard on public radios across America. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University.