Charles Ota Heller

On a crisp, sunny, winter day in 1997, I was sitting in the luxurious office of a Washington, DC, power broker, when his administrative assistant intruded on our conversation. “Excuse me for interrupting, sir,” she said, “but Mr. Erskine Bowles is on the phone for you.” I knew that Bowles was the White House Chief…

When the Germans gave us twenty-four hours to clear out of our home and to take only that which we could carry, my toys were not among the necessities Mother and Dědeček packed. Thus, I landed on the Tůma farm a four-year-old without his trucks, tin soldiers, and miniature sailboats. However, my ever-thoughtful mother made…

Feathered Quill just announced their book award winners for 2022. COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM was selected as a Reviewer’s Choice winner.  Reviewer Katie Specht wrote: “With this memoir, Heller has penned a poignant, compelling story of his grit and determination to make the most of his life, even during…

I have been selected by Atmosphere Press—along with authors John Lipman and Kristin Rohman Rehkamp—to participate in a Memoir & Biography Reading to an online audience via Zoom. The one-hour program will take place on Monday, January 9, at 3:00 pm Eastern Standard Time. Each author will read a passage from his/her latest book (in…

REVIEW BY DIANE DONOVAN, MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW “Goddamn immigrant!” Charles Ota Heller heard these words of hate in high school … in the land of the free, after he and his parents narrowly escaped the brutal Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. It was an endeavor that moved them from living a life of wealth to arriving…

Student Contest Winner: Hidden Child, Hidden Identity Charles Heller learned he was part Jewish only after his relatives began to disappear. Give this article 9 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/learning/student-contest-winner-the-story-of-a-holocaust-survivor.html Charles Heller in his home office. “I didn’t know what a Jew was,” he said. “But our household was full of Jewish men.” Credit…Talia Dauer By The Learning Network Published May…

What Does Chesapeake Country Mean to Me? After 27 years of wandering—as a hidden child in World War II Czechoslovakia, as a refugee from Communism in Germany, as a new American in New Jersey, as a college student in Oklahoma, and as an engineer in California—I found my home on the shores of the Chesapeake…

The following is another excerpt from my upcoming memoir, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, to be published by Atmosphere Press in late spring/early summer: It was February of my junior year at Oklahoma State University. As always on non-game weekdays during basketball season, I walked into Gallagher Hall at 3:15 pm…

The following is another excerpt from my upcoming memoir, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. This one is a poem that constitutes the book’s Introduction: I am from a far-off land, Once called Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic. I am from a small village called Kojetice, And I am from a glorious…