David Wolinsky

David Wolinsky is the founder of Don’t Die, an oral history about the videogame industry and its audience, with a goal of establishing accountability and improving a global workforce's labor conditions.

Don't Die represents a new type of entertainment journalism for the space, one that seeks to define criticism for an industry largely immune to it and to help humanize the subculture on which videogames relies. As Don’t Die’s founder, Wolinsky has produced more than 200 interviews since 2014, which have been used to aid the Library of Congress’ research and also inform case studies by Cornell’s Worker Institute.

He was previously an editor for NBC and The Onion in Chicago, covering the city’s thriving arts, entertainment, and entrepreneurial scenes. After earning a degree in music business in 2005, and parallel to his journalism career, Wolinsky worked as a curriculum builder and instructor for The Second City.