David W. Berner will give the Keynote Address at our summer conference August 13th at The Lodge at Sea Island.  Over the years he has mastered the art of storytelling, both his own stories as well as the stories of others. He has told stories as a reporter for numerous radio stations including NPR and more recently for CBS in Chicago and the CBS Radio Network. He is a familiar face on the Chicago storytelling circuit regularly appearing to read his personal essays at events such as Story Club, Essay Fiesta, and This Much is True.

Berner has produced three recent audio documentaries: Bracelets of Grace: The Vietname War Story of Major Stanley Horne, Finding My Kerouac, and Pebble Beach Stories. His writing has appeared in PERIGEE, Tiny Lights Journal, Rivulets, Clef Notes, Shaking Like a Mountain, Travelgolf.com, Worldgolf.com, Golf Chicago Magazine, The Sun Newspapers, and Write City Magazine and a number of other publications both online and print.

Berner’s 2009 memoir Accidental Lessons has been called remarkable by readers, reviewers, and journalists. In this inspirational account of self-discovery, Berner takes his readers inside his own personal journey of taking a job in a public school in a tough, impoverished neighborhood outside Chicago and the invaluable lessons he learns from his students. Accidental Lessons was the 2011 recipient of the Dragonfly Book Award for Literature.

Berner is currently working in the Chicago area as a broadcaster, writer, and an associate professor at Columbia College Chicago. He is also Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida. His masterful talents will be on display in the August 2011 Scribbler’s Retreat Writers Conference during his keynote address, "The Radio Narrative: Telling Your Stories in Sound".