David W. Berner
David W. Berner is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author, and teacher.
He is the best-selling, award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, memoir, short stories, and poetry. His work includes the novels A Well-Respected Man, The Islander, Night Radio, Sandman, and Rainbow Man, and the nonfiction books Accidental Lessons, Any Road Will Take You There, Walks with Sam, The Consequence of Stars, and Daylight Saving Time. He has won an Eric Hoffer Book Award, Book Excellence Award, NYC Big Book Award, National Association of Independent Writers and Editors Award for Literary Fiction, and the Book of the Year Award from the Chicago Writers Association. He's also been recognized by the Paris Book Festival, the London Book Festival, The Society of Midland Authors, the Hawthorne Prize, the Royal Dragonfly Awards, and the Readers' Choice Awards.
David has been honored as the Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, FL and at the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home and Museum in Oak Park, IL.
David is a retired associate-professor at Columbia College Chicago, a long-time Chicago broadcast journalist, and now teaches writing at Gotham Writers Workshop of New York City. He writes a regular blog on writing, music, and the arts at The Writer Shed on Medium and personal essays at The Abundance on Substack.
Facebook: @DavidWBernerWriter/
Instagram: @davidwbernerwrites
Substack: theabundance
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
I am usually a patient reader, giving the story time to pull me in. But there have been books, some that can be found on bestseller lists, that simply did not resonate with me and by chapter 3 or 4, I was out. Some of these books have been ones that “everyone” I know has enjoyed or found fascinating. On the other side of this, there have been times that a book is not ready for me. When I was 20-years old, I was not ready for Ulysses, for example. At 45, I was. My own maturation as a reader and a writer brought me to the book in a vastly different state of being. This has been true of many others. Now, as a reader, I know what kind of books I like and even if a book comes highly recommended, many times I will pass on it before I read a single page. Maybe that’s not making myself available to the opportunity of a book or an author, but I’ve come to know what is best for me as a reader. One last thing: As a writer, reading changed for me years ago. I read like a writer. Reading for pure pleasure is a thing of the past, and I’m okay with that. I love reading as a writer.
Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?
There are three visual artists that have inspired me, both in their work in their artistic lives: Van Gogh, Picasso, and Jackson Pollack. The artistic life for each man was so incredibly powerful. I have seen Van Gogh exhibits, and Picasso works at his home in Malaga, Spain. But it was Pollock’s “Greyed Rainbow” at the Art Institute in Chicago that brought me an entirely new perspective. The painting is Pollock’s famed approach to Abstract Expressionism. It had me considering the art within the art, interior art, like the interior dialogue in prose. Pollock was a master at what I might call a “literary expression” in art, offering visual metaphors and inner emotions not first revealed in the initial look at his paintings.
What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
I do not think of myself as an author, despite several books of award-winning fiction and memoir. I am a writer. To me, there is a distinct difference. An author, for the most part, writes to an audience. The author sees his reader and writes to their desires and their needs as a reader within that author’s chosen genre. A writer, on the other hand, writes for himself, firmly believing that his take on the world will resonate with the reader by offering insight into the human condition. That is who I am. That is why I call myself a writer and not an author.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I play guitar and piano. Not as much as I used to. But I do enjoy writing songs. Nearly all my musical endeavors have been for my own enjoyment, although years ago I did play in a band, performing at pubs and other events. It never was much, but it was fun. A few years ago, I wrote a memoir about my life in music. October Song is about my own musical dreams and an unexpected journey I took to try to fulfill one of those dreams. Recently, I worked with a fellow musician/producer to bring some of my songwriting to life. You can find those songs on Spotify and the links to them on my website-www.davidwberner.com. It was an artistic exercise that was quite personally fulfilling.
Favorite non-reading activity?
Besides playing a musical instrument, I love the game of golf. For me, golf is a walk in nature, a meditative act. The game is played singularly in one’s head, much like the process of writing. I believe that is one reason why I love the game so much. Plus, like writing and any artistic process, perfection in the game of golf is unattainable, and maybe not the point at all.
