Nick Chiarkas is a Wisconsin Writers Association Board Member and the author of nine traditionally published books: two award-winning novels, Weepers and Nunzio’s Way, and seven nonfiction books. He grew up in the Al Smith housing projects on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. When he was in the fourth grade, his mother was told by the principal of PS-1 that “Nick was unlikely ever to complete high school, so you must steer him toward a simple and secure vocation.” Instead, Nick became a writer, with a few stops along the way: a U.S. Army Paratrooper, a New York City Police Officer, Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Deputy Chief Counsel for the President’s Commission on Organized Crime; Chief Counsel for the USATBCB; and the Director of the Wisconsin State Public Defender Agency. On the way, he picked up a Doctorate from Columbia University, a Law Degree from Temple University, and was a Pickett Fellow at Harvard. How many mothers are told that their children are hopeless? How many kids with potential surrender to despair? That’s why Nick wrote Weepers and Nunzio’s Way — for them.
Six fun facts most people don’t know about Nick Chiarkas
- Nick received the Law Enforcement Commendation Medal from the Sons of the American Revolution and the Equal Justice Medal from the Legal Aid Society – These two awards are not in conflict but in harmony. Since no one is above the law’s enforcement or below its protection.
- Nick is the founder of the international nonprofit “Justice Without Borders.”
- Nick raised his two oldest children mainly as a single dad – just the three of them. He said they taught him a lot and made him a better person.
- Nick was one of a handful of NYPD cops sent to Woodstock in 1969 to provide security – He said it was spectacular and enlightening.
- While in an Army hospital, Nick received a very kind letter from J.D. Salinger.
- Nick was in the movie The Anderson Tapes (Starring Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, and Christopher Walken) – okay, it was a minute-no-speaking part where he mistakenly smiled at a dead guy character.