Peter Slonek

Peter Slonek’s passion for writing came out of his passion for reading. From an early age he devoured book after book, always a little ahead of his age. After finishing his parents’ collection of books he advanced to all the libraries within reach which remained true for his life up until now. No subject has been taboo.

Early on he published essays and articles in young adult magazines, mostly drawing on his experiences of a one-year, Fulbright Travel Grant supported study stint in the US, majoring in Journalism at the University of Kansas. His writing career took him into many directions.

He became Public Relations Manager for the National Austrian Catholic Youth Movement, worked as a stringer for a news agency, edited tourist brochures and the dispatches of a Polish journalist working for Radio Free Europe. He joined the staff of the Press Attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, later, as an Editor with USIA he wrote and produced brochures supporting documentary films and a monthly newsreel.

For four years he edited and published the quarterly Fulbright Alumni Journal for Austrian Fulbright Alumni and current American Fulbright students in Austria.

In 1962 he emigrated to the US and settled in the San Francisco Bay Area where he continued his career in the computer field. He honed his writing at San Francisco State University and JFK University in Orinda. He published a short story in Tunnel Road and collected many rejection slips including a personalized one from the New Yorker.

After moving to Utah, his stories won acclaim in the annual writing competitions of the Utah Writer’s Guild. Several of these stories were published in local anthologies. As an active member of the Dances of Universal Peace he became the editor of their annual illustrated Journal for North America

After retiring he worked with youth at risk, owned and ran a B&B, gardened and kept on writing. He now makes his home in Wilmette, Illinois.

The experience of growing up in Austria, before, during and after World War II, prompted him to journal periodically about his personal traumas during this time, mainly for his own healing. After many years these stories accumulated to book length and Mr. Slonek finally decided to edit them together into his memoir “Who Stole my Father?” published in February 2013.