Dave Hoekstra is a Chicago author-journalist. From 1985 through 2014, he was a columnist-critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he won the 2013 Studs Terkel Community Media Award. He has contributed pieces to the Chicago Reader, New City, and Raw Vision. He has written several books, including Beacons in the Darkness: Hope and Transformation Among America's Community Newspapers, The Supper Club Book: A Celebration of a Midwest Tradition, and The People's Place: Soul Food Restaurants and Reminiscences from The Civil Rights Era to Today.

Dave wrote and co-produced the WTTW-Channel 11 PBS special, "The Staple Singers and the Civil Rights Movement," nominated for a 2001–02 Chicago Emmy for Outstanding Achievement for a Documentary Program. He also wrote and co-produced the award-winning 2018 full-length documentary and companion book The Center of Nowhere: The Spirit and Sounds of Springfield, Missouri.