About Michael
Chad • Peace Corps • African Economic Development • Careers with the U.S. State Department • Life as a Diplomat • Author • Playwright
As a second-generation American, Michael Varga never forgot that his grandparents had immigrated to the United States. His mom’s parents are from Italy. His dad’s parents are from Hungary. From an early age, he felt a calling to see more of the world. To try to understand what might have led his ancestors to abandon their lives in their home countries for a new life in America.
This calling resulted in a man who enjoyed traveling and writing about his experiences.
The writing bug bit this Philadelphia Catholic boy back in elementary school when he stood before his class and read a story he had written, watching his classmates wait in anticipation for how the story would end.
The desire to travel was sparked listening to his father escape to the basement of their house in Philadelphia, and tune his shortwave radio to the strange sounds of other languages, broadcast from unknown corners of the world. Michael’s family was working class, so there was no money for traveling physically. But listening to that shortwave radio, they could escape to Europe, the South Pacific, and other exotic locales with hard-to-pronounce names.
After graduating from Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Michael continued his education at Rider College (now Rider University). Graduating in 1977 and earning his K-through-12 teaching certificate, the pull of Michael’s dreams intensified. Michael felt the Peace Corps was his ticket to travel while also providing him a chance to do good for others.
Three weeks after graduating from Rider, Michael’s family said an anxious goodbye to their son as he left for his two-year Peace Corps stint in the middle of Africa. There, Michael fell in love with his new home, Chad, and its people. All went well with his Peace Corps duties until civil war broke out and all Americans were evacuated from the turbulent nation. There are no Peace Corps Volunteers in Chad today because of the continued threats to security.
After a variety of jobs upon returning to the States, Michael landed at the University Of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN) where he earned his master’s in development economics in 1985.
While living in South Bend, The Acting Ensemble of South Bend premiered one of Michael’s plays, “Payable Upon Return”. The play had been published by the Juniper Press at the University Of Notre Dame in 1983, (ISBN# 0-911187-01-4). The play centers on a group of friends, one of whom returns from the Peace Corps. Payable Upon Return won first prize in The Acting Ensemble New Play competition in 1985.
Longing for more travel, Michael passed the Foreign Service Exam and became an American diplomat. He served as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department in the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Morocco, and Canada. He also 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.
During his time as a diplomat, Michael wrote a short story, “Collapsing Into Zimbabwe” which won the Toronto Star’s annual contest in 1995. His honors were not limited to his writing, however, and Michael earned a Meritorious Honor award for individual accomplishment in Casablanca, Morocco, and another one in Toronto, Canada. As part of a team, he shared in another group Meritorious Honor Award for Foreign Service Officers who worked behind the scenes at the G-7 Summit in Halifax, Canada in 1995.
In 1989, Michael made his movie debut, appearing in the movie “Casablanca Express.” The movie stars Glenn Ford, Jason Connery, and Donald Pleasence. Shooting was done on location in Morocco. Michael plays a GI medic with some lines at the very end of the movie.
Since his retirement from the Foreign Service, Michael is committed to various volunteering projects, his writing, and enjoying his friends. He stays in touch with some of the other volunteers who served with him in Chad. Many of those friendships helped him want to write his Peace Corps novel, Under Chad’s Spell. Until cancer struck him in 2020, he had been at work on the sequel, a novel about the Foreign Service.
He lives in Florida where he often—even to this day—has Chad on his mind.
Michael's
Writings, Productions & Honors
- Chad Erupts In Strife – Glimmer Train (November 2015)
- Addicted to Chad – Literal Latté (Spring 2011)
- Throwing in the Towel in Casablanca – Foreign Service Journal (October 2009)
- A Random Act of Destiny – Notre Dame Magazine (Autumn 2005)
- Waiter! – Commonweal Magazine (August 16, 1996)
- Collapsing into Zimbabwe – Toronto Star (1995)
- Epiphany in the Spud Room – New Works Theatre of Arlington, VA (1991)
- After Birth Stems the Urge – Hassan II University (1989) Casablanca, Morocco
- There Are No Kangaroos in Egypt – BBC (1988) – adapted for the stage in 1991 and given a staged reading at the Source Theatre (Washington DC) for its summer play festival.