Mr. Milan Kalis
Award-winning Slovakian Novelist - Thriller
I was born in 1979 (August 22) in Ilava, Slovakia. I spent first decade of my childhood primarily in Dubnica nad Váhom and Nová Dubnica, Slovakia. I attended the school from 1986 and 1994 in Dubnica. My brother was born in 1987. In 1989, I become a member of the young pioneer organization of the Czechoslovakia (every child had to be a member and it was the last year when communist state gave the diploma before the Velvet Revolution).
I tried to write my first novel in summer of 1992 (influenced by historical novel Čachtická pani, The Cachtic´s lady by Jožo Nižnánsky). Only my teacher read it and she noticed my talent with the written word and encouraged me to pursue my literary ambitions. Then I studied at Gymnasium Ľudovíta Štúra in Trenčín from 1994 to 1998 (the Gymnasium in the Slovak education system is a type of secondary school with a strong emphasis on academic learning, comparable with the British grammar school system or with prep schools in the United States).
When I was 15 I saw my first piece of writing appear in print - a poetry published in the school newspaper. At the age of 16 I become an editor in the school newspaper.