Best QB in NFL draft: Brandon Weeden
Everyone knows who the top two picks in tonight’s NFL draft will be: the Colts will take Andrew Luck of Stanford and the Redskins will choose Robert Griffin of Baylor. Yet, consider the following scores: Brandon Weeden 41- Andrew Luck 38: in the Fiesta Bowl, a game which, if the NCAA did not have an SEC bias,…
Read MoreStory of PRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME goes national
Theresa Winslow’s story about PRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME has been picked up by Associated Press and is appearing in newspapers and online throughout the US. Here is a story on the CBS website: Man Writes Of Life In Nazi-Occupied Czechoslovakia
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My young Czech friend, Judita Matyasova, is an outstanding writer, with a book about Kafka on her resume along with many feature articles in newspapers and magazines. During her research for a story, she came across a surprising — and untold — event from World War II: the rescue of 150 Czech children from the…
Read MorePRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME featured in Maryland newspaper
On Easter Sunday, The Capital newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland featured a story about Prague: My Long Journey Home. I appreciate writer Theresa Winslow’s carefully researched piece: Arnold man writes of life in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia By THERESA WINSLOW, Staff Writer Capital Gazette Communications Published 04/08/12 When he was 9 years old, Charles Ota Heller found…
Read MorePRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME in former NJ hometown paper
Morris County Daily Record, April 6, 2012 Former Morristown resident writes about surviving war in Europe Written by Matt Manochio Special to the Daily Record Charles Heller was 9 years old when he shot a Nazi in Czechoslovakia. The son of a Jewish father and Christian mother, Heller was in hiding at a family friend’s…
Read MoreNo tears shed
Last week, a man convicted of 28,000 counts of being an accessory to murder was accorded three-quarters of a page in the obituary section of a major national newspaper. When my great-grandfather — Gustav Neumann – died, no newspaper carried a story about this wonderful man. John Demjanjuk was a native Ukranian who spent many…
Read MoreNewest review of PRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME
I am pleased by the fact that 30 reviews of my book have been posted on Amazon,com (28 of them with a five-star rating). The latest was written by Dr. William G. Durden, President of Dickinson College: PRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME is a memoir that confronts a myriad of haunting human questions–loss, identity, longing,…
Read MoreReview of my book in Outlook by the Bay magazine
Hello, friends! I am very anxious and excited to share a review of my memoir that was written by Vicki Duncan of Outlook by the Bay magazine. Please, read on: Local author Charles Ota Heller begins his compelling memoir with scenes of his early childhood in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Throughout years of persecution and hiding, with…
Read MoreOn Being a Memoirist
Courtesy of Anne Arundel Community College I envy my novelist friends. Throughout my writing career, I have had to stick with the facts. This began in high school, where I was a sports editor writing about games I and others played. It continued in college, where I was a reporter, and later editor, for an…
Read MoreOur Perfect Storm
While gathering information for my second memoir, tentatively titled Cowboy from Prague, I came across a photo of me at the helm of a sailboat. I have a smile on my face, the sky is blue, and the Atlantic Ocean in the background is smooth. But, oh, what memories of terror this photo brought! Our…
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