Follow David on Twitter and Facebook Contact: davchart@icloud.com

“David’s humor embraces the mundane, everyday things that make us laugh, weep or pound the table in frustration." — Mark Victor Hansen, creator, New York Times best-selling series, Chicken Soup for the Soul

David Chartrand is a journalist, humorist, and writing coach based in Olathe, Kan. (Kansas City). His essays and columns have appeared in newspapers and magazines across the country since 1979.

Chartrand holds First Place awards from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, plus six First Place awards from the Kansas City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the author of, “From the Heartland” (2003, Globe- Pequot Press), a collection of stories and essays about Midwestern families and the resiliency of the human spirit.

Chartrand’s "A Father's Letter to Santa" was included in Chicken Soup: A Christmas Treasury, where the publishers cited it as among the most memorable Christmas essays of all time. Since 1994, the essay has been performed live every Christmas Eve across a network of radio stations affiliated with WBAL-AM/FM of Baltimore.

Chartrand has a master’s degree in journalism from Kansas State University. He specializes in issues that threaten American ordinary, including including health care, mental health care, public education, the criminal justice system, homelessness, poverty, and the isolation of America’s elderly.

“What a powerful column. I actually heard two people talking about it in the office. My wife called from work, sobbing. She said there wasn’t a dry eye in the office.”

— David Bates, vice president, United States Trust Company of New York

“My reaction to your ‘Dear Santa’ article was, ‘Gee, I wish I had written this.’ Keep writing wonderful articles and stories and know that you are touching a great many people.”

— Ralph Cooley, Richmond, Va.

“One of the brightest moments of my Friday mornings the past few months has been reading David Chartrand’s column at the breakfast table.”

— Larry Sherwood, Olathe, Kan.

“Shortly after the birth of my son, I read the enclosed column in the Wall Street Journal. I saved it and have read it many times over the past few years. Every time I read it I marvel at David Chartrand’s ability to express not only his wishes for his son, but also mine, fathers worldwide.”

— R. Jack Innes, The Wenatchee World, Washington

“David, I wish the editor of your paper would publish today’s column once every year. Thanks for a true heart warmer.”

— Patricia M. Cracraft, Merriam, Kansas

“Your words have touched me deeply over the years. . .I commend your sensitivity to all lonely people. I am newly resolved to step outside the professional role and reach out to all persons I encounter in the ordinary routines of my life.”

— Susanna Fitzgerald, Kansas City

“I have just finished reading, ‘A Father’s Letter to Santa,’ for the third time this morning. And I just want to tell you how much it has touched my heart. I am going to save this clipping and someday when my little three-feet, six-inch girl becomes a mother I will hand it down to her.”

— Don Woehler, Evansville, Indiana

“Today as always I walk to my locker to change into my uniform. I looked down to see the yellowed article “A Father’s Letter to Santa” which I clipped it from the Wall Street Journal 14 years ago and taped to the locker. On Christmas day I take it down, fold it up and take it to our Family Christmas dinner. My son was eight years old when it was published. Today he flies A-10s in the Air Force. I constantly fear that my only son will face evil without his father to protect him. I will pass this article down to him when he has his own 5-year-old.”

—Mark Logan, York Springs, PA

“While I was pregnant with my only child, my son, I read your column "Welcome to Adulthood” article in The Nashville Tennessean. It moved me to tears then as it does every time since. Sloan, my son, is working on a family scrapbook. While going through his baby pictures I came across another article of yours from the Wall Street Journal called “A Father's Letter to Santa." I was okay reading it until you mentioned The Frog and Toad. That started the tears flowing

— Jamie Taylor, Franklin, TN

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