David Chrisinger

David Chrisinger writes about how true stories, told carefully and honestly, change what people understand and what they do. His subjects include Ernie Pyle, whose columns brought the Second World War home to American readers; Edgar Kupfer-Koberwitz, who kept a secret diary inside Dachau on scavenged index cards; and ordinary citizens learning to turn their own experience into stories that move lawmakers.

Chrisinger is the Executive Director of the Writing Workshop at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He has taught policy writing for nearly two decades, starting at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. His writing on war, memory, and public life has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and other national publications.

His narrative histories are "The Soldier’s Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II" and "Writing Against the Reich: The Secret Diary of Dachau" (Potomac Books, 2027).

His books on persuasion include "Public Policy Writing That Matters," now in its third edition; its second edition won the National Council of Teachers of English’s George Orwell Award. He also wrote "Because Data Can’t Speak for Itself," with Lauren Brodsky, and "More Than Personal: Transform Your Lived Experience into Political Change" (Johns Hopkins University Press), a guide for advocates.

He edited "See Me for Who I Am: Student Veterans’ Stories of War and Coming Home," and wrote "Stories Are What Save Us: A Survivor’s Guide to Writing About Trauma."