Michael Varga

Michael Varga dreamed about joining the Peace Corps, and soon after he graduated college from Rider University (Lawrenceville, NJ) he realized that dream at age 21, serving as a volunteer in Chad, Africa. Then war broke out, and Michael was evacuated, leaving a big part of his heart behind when he left. This love for Chad is reflected in his many works.

Later, Michael became a diplomat serving primarily in hotspots in the Middle East. He served as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department in the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Morocco, and Canada. He served in Washington, D.C. in the Economic bureau and as the desk officer for Lebanon when the last American hostages were released in the 1990s. He was also a Pearson Fellow at the World Trade Center Miami. He holds a Master's degree in Economics from the University Of Notre Dame, a Bachelor's degree in English from Rider University, and is a certified teacher.

In 2014, Glimmer Train announced that Michael’s short story, “Chad Erupts in Strife,” won first prize in the Fiction Open competition. The story is published in Glimmer Train Issue #95 (November 2015) (http://www.glimmertrain.com).

Michael is a playwright and actor, as well as a writer of fiction. Three of his plays have been produced and one published. "Collapsing Into Zimbabwe," a short story, earned him first prize in the annual competition sponsored by the Toronto Star. In 1988, the BBC broadcast "There Are No Kangaroos in Egypt." His columns have appeared in various newspapers and journals. Michael appears in the Glenn Ford movie, Casablanca Express, where he plays a GI medic. Even now, he can still repeat his lines. To learn more about Michael, visit his website, www.michaelvarga.com. He is currently working on a novel about the Foreign Service. He lives in Florida where he often--even to this day--has Chad on his mind.