Bio

Derek Wright is an award-winning writer and radio personality who specializes in music appreciation and pop-culture criticism.

Currently living in Taiwan and working for an English education organization, his recent writings have focused on international travel through the familiarity of pop music.

Since the year that Belle and Sebastian first sang about a boy and his sex toy, he has worked as a columnist, reporter, and editor. His byline has appeared in newspapers across Illinois and in magazines throughout the United States and in Europe and Canada.

He built a following through his on-air career, which began in 2002 over Chicago’s terrestrial airwaves on WRRG 88.9 FM’s “Liner Notes.” He formerly hosted a podcast under the same name, also available on iTunes.

He has worked as member of the multimedia and online departments, as well as the news copy desk for the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, Ill. while maintaining a regular online, music-themed column for the media outlet. He also has been a full-time staff writer for Soundcheck Magazine, The Daily Herald’s BEEP!, and a frequent contributor to other publications, including Chicago Innerview.

Before embarking full-time as a career journalist, he worked in the promotions and marketing department of Sony Music, babysitting artists and their egos while crafting tour campaigns for performers on Columbia Records and Epic Records.

He digs sushi, Oscar Wilde, coffee, cashews, comic books, and watching TV show marathons on DVD. He is an alumnus of Northern Illinois University where he studied journalism and communications, and Framingham State University where he received a Master’s in International Education.