Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler is a nationally recognized award-winning journalist, fiction writer and poet whose essays and columns have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines and on public radio and the internet.
Koehler’s column is intensely political without being trapped in partisan politics. It’s about values and meaning, back-lit with reverence for life, exploring emotional territory journalism often avoids but readers hunger after. Response to the column is often powerful. One reader described it as “blatantly relevant.”
Koehler has won numerous writing and journalism awards over a 30-year career, at the national, state and local levels. He’s a regular contributor to such high-profile websites as the Huffington Post, Common Dreams, OpEd News and TruthOut, and is a sought-after speaker on such topics as election fraud and the nature of peace. Eschewing political labels, Koehler considers himself a “peace journalist.”
He has been an editor at Tribune Media Services and a reporter, columnist and copy desk chief at Lerner Newspapers, a chain of neighborhood and suburban newspapers in the Chicago, Illinois, area. Koehler launched his column in 1999.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in suburban Dearborn, Koehler has lived in Chicago since 1976. He earned a M.A. in creative writing from Columbia College and has taught writing at both the college and high school levels. Koehler is a widower and single parent. He explores both conditions at great depth in his writing.
Recent Work
When I popped open the old laptop, the Geek Squad guy said maybe I should dust it off. He slid ... Read More
When I popped open the old laptop, the Geek Squad guy said maybe I should dust it off. He slid a canister of Endust toward me. "Spray the cloth," he said, "not the machine." I started choking on my sense of humiliation. This poor baby was ... Read More
In The News
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ROCKPORT, Mass. (AP) — Rockport residents have a history of fighting off invaders, but not this time. During the War... Read More
ROCKPORT, Mass. (AP) — Rockport residents have a history of fighting off invaders, but not this time. During the War of 1812, townsfolk in the tiny fishing village hurled rocks at British soldiers using their stockings as slings. Now, they’re... Read More
Premarket trading on Wall Street was mixed Wednesday as more companies post their latest earnings while uncertainty over President Donald... Read More
Premarket trading on Wall Street was mixed Wednesday as more companies post their latest earnings while uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s trade war lingers. Futures for the S&P 500 turned 0.3% lower, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average... Read More
ATTARI, India (AP) — Pakistan said Wednesday it had “credible intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within days,... Read More
ATTARI, India (AP) — Pakistan said Wednesday it had “credible intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within days, as soldiers from both sides exchanged gunfire along their borders and Pakistanis headed home in compliance with New Delhi’s orders... Read More
WASHINGTON — Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Dina Titus, D-Nev., were joined on Capitol Hill on Tuesday by more than... Read More
WASHINGTON — Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Dina Titus, D-Nev., were joined on Capitol Hill on Tuesday by more than two dozen cannabis policy reform advocates as they introduced a bill they hope will end restrictions on federal funding for... Read More
Members of Congress are moving to repeal President Joe Biden’s lame-duck attempt to unilaterally purge medical debt from credit reports, a naïve... Read More
Members of Congress are moving to repeal President Joe Biden’s lame-duck attempt to unilaterally purge medical debt from credit reports, a naïve idea that would do little to solve its underlying causes. But in correcting presidential overreach, lawmakers should address medical debt... Read More
WASHINGTON — The FBI’s new Internet Crime Report released last week shows Americans lost $16.6 billion to cybercrime in 2024... Read More
WASHINGTON — The FBI’s new Internet Crime Report released last week shows Americans lost $16.6 billion to cybercrime in 2024 despite an intensified government effort to stop it. The losses were up by one-third from a year earlier. Fraud was... Read More
