David Freeman grew up in Long Lake, Minnesota, where  he attended the Main Street School of Performing Arts (now Performance Institute of Minnesota) and worked at Three Rivers Park District. From 2012-2016, he attended the University of Iowa, completing editorial internships with The Iowa Review and Graywolf Press. During this time, he also received the Nicholas Meyer Award for Dramatic Writing.

After graduating from Iowa, David moved to Chicago where he worked for the Poetry Foundation, and did manuscript screening for Curbside Splendor and Milkweed Editions. From 2018-2020, he attended the University of Michigan and earned his MFA in Creative Writing. While in Michigan, David received the Hopwood Award for Dramatic Writing, the Hopwood Award for Poetry, the Theodore Roethke Award for Long Poem, and the Bain-Swiggett Poetry Prize. In 2021, David was awarded a Helen Zell fellowship, which he completed remotely in Minneapolis.

David continues to live in Minneapolis where he works in public service and volunteers as a steward for MAPE (local 1002) and as secretary director for DFL Senate District 59. His current writing projects include a novel, a collection of poetry, and a hybrid academic work.