Robert K. Elder

Last updated

Robert K. Elder
Born (1976-01-20) January 20, 1976 (age 47)
United States
Occupation Publisher, Journalist, author, film columnist
LanguageEnglish
Genre Journalism, film

Robert K. Elder (born January 20, 1976) is an American journalist, author, and film columnist. He is currently the President and CEO of the Outrider Foundation. [1] He has written more than a dozen books on topics ranging from the death penalty and movies to Ernest Hemingway and Elvis Presley.

Contents

Early life and education

During his academic career at the University of Oregon, Elder ran the campus publication The Oregon Voice. He annotated and archived Ken Kesey's personal papers at the university's Knight Library.

Professional career

Elder has published in The New York Times , Premiere , The Los Angeles Times , The Boston Globe , Salon.com, The Chicago Tribune and The Oregonian , among other publications. In the late 1990s, Elder worked for several publications and changed his byline to "Robert K. Elder" after working with another Rob Elder at the San Jose Mercury News .

He has taught journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, as well as feature writing and entertainment reporting at Columbia College Chicago. A former member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, he has also taught film classes at Facets Film School.

Elder has worked for DNAinfo Chicago as its managing editor, Stop Smiling magazine as a contributing editor, Crain Communications as the director of Digital Production Development and Strategy, 1871 Chicago as a business mentor, Blockchain News as a publisher and president, the Garage Fellows program at Northwestern University's Startup Incubator, the Garage, on the board of advisors, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as the Chief Digital Officer. [2] As of May 2022, Elder is the president and CEO of the Outrider Foundation .

In June 2006, Elder debunked the long-believed Chicago legend that Del Close had donated his skull for use as a stage prop to the Goodman Theatre. While Close had willed his skull to the theater to serve as Yorick in productions of Hamlet , the delivery of the skull never happened, due to medical and legal issues, and it was cremated along with the rest of Close's body.

In June 2009, he founded the Web 2.0 company Odd Hours Media LLC, which launched the user-generated sites ItWasOverWhen.com [3] and ItWasLoveWhen.com. [4] Both sites attracted more than one million hits within a few months. Later that same year, Sourcebooks signed the sites to a two-book deal. The book It Was Over When: Tales of Romantic Dead Ends [5] was available two years later.

In 2013, he was named the Lake County Editor for the Chicago Sun-Times. [6] He went on to become editor-in-chief of Sun-Times Media Local, overseeing 36 of the company's suburban publications. The next year, he was named vice president of Digital Content, founding a guest editor program featuring people such as Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Presumed Innocent author Scott Turow, and astronaut Jim Lovell. Elder also started a podcast network at the Sun-Times, hosting "The Big Questions," one of four initial shows.

In July 2018, Elder was featured on Billings Gazette . [7] It recollects the moment that, "spurred a lifelong love of concert photography," and provoked Elder's journalism career.

Books

Elder has written, researched, edited and/or contributed to over 20 books [8] including:

Bibliography

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References

  1. "Outrider Foundation names Robert K. Elder as its new president and CEO". Outrider. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  2. "Robert K. Elder" . Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  3. "It Was Over When: Tales of Romantic Dead Ends" . Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  4. "It Was Love When: Tales from the Beginning of Love" . Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  5. "It Was Over When: Tales of Romantic Dead Ends" . Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  6. "Lake County News - Lake County News-Sun" . Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  7. "Former Billings resident's book prompts music lovers to explore the soundtrack of their lives". July 20, 2018.
  8. "Bookstore". Robert K. Elder. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  9. "The Best Film You've Never Seen". The official website of "The Best Film You've Never Seen" by Robert K. Elder. In this book, Elder interviews 35 directors about their favorite overlooked, forgotten or critically-savaged gems.... Retrieved July 29, 2023.
  10. "The Doomsday Clock at 75". Hat & Beard Press. Retrieved July 29, 2023.