Derek Cressman is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction based in Sacramento, California. He is a graduate of the Stanford Online Certificate in Novel Writing and has served as a teaching assistance at The Writers Hotel Mini MFA conference.
In 2019, he published his first novel, Reality™ 2048, which Kirkus called a “potent and sobering wake up call.” It was a finalist in the Foreword INDIES Book of the year and First Horizon American Fiction Book awards.
In 2014, Derek Cressman ran for California secretary of state. Though he wasn’t elected, the legislature responded to his campaign, and the efforts of others, by referring a question to the ballot instructing Congress to overturn the Citizens United ruling—the central plank of Derek’s campaign platform.
Cressman wrote countless white papers, op-ed columns, fact sheets and reports as well as two books as part of a thirty-year career in public policy advocating for democracy issues such as campaign finance reform and voting rights. Derek has testified before committees of the United States Senate, California State Assembly and Senate, and California Fair Political Practices Commission; served as an expert in federal litigation. His non-fiction works include The Recall’s Broken Promise–How Big Money Still Runs California Politics and When Money Talks–The High Price of “Free” Speech and the Selling of Democracy.
Cressman has served as a credentialed elections observer in Somalia, El Salvador, and Florida.
When he’s not writing, Derek enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters and working in his family’s olive orchard. He credits his time running marathons and mountaineering with building his fortitude to tackle obstacles of social change. He is an avid woodworker and picks at the banjo when he needs a break. Derek grew up in Colorado Springs and graduated with honors from Williams College in 1990 with a degree in political science.