Paul Chitlik

Paul Chitlik, author, television and film writer, producer, and director, was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He wrote and directed his first play when he was eleven. He moved with his family to Long Beach, California, when he was thirteen. Though he felt out of place for most of the first year in Long Beach, he eventually became student body president of his high school, claiming he ran because one of the perks of office was to crown and kiss the homecoming queen.

During the 1960s, Chitlik attended the University of California, Berkeley, as an undergraduate. As a junior, he spent a year at the University of Madrid under the auspices of the UC Education Abroad Program. After graduating, he entered the PhD program in comparative literature at UCSD, then transferred to UC, Berkeley, once again. He returned to Spain after a year where he lived and worked in Madrid. It was there that he also published his first work in any language - a Spanish poem.

After a year in Madrid, Chitlik migrated to London where he worked as a translator, photographer, and journalist for several years after the traditional writer’s series of jobs – stock boy in a deli, baker, house cleaner, house painter, and, eventually consultant for famed publisher Calder & Boyars. Eventually he worked as a reporter for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He also freelanced as a photographer and journalist. His photographs and articles appeared in English, Welsh, Spanish, US, and Israeli periodicals.

When he returned to Los Angeles he worked as a technical translator and E.S.L. instructor at Long Beach Community College. Soon, he was an administrator devising programs for non-literate students in the Indo-Chinese Refugee Assistance Program. His work with non-literature adults who often did not even have a written language of their own led to his being a consultant for the state funded Dissemination Network for Adult Educators teaching other teachers how to deal with this new population.

During this time he was also on the board of directors of La Escuela Laboral, a bilingual school for adults in East Los Angeles, and the Human Powered Transit Association, a bicycle advocacy group. He was responsible for the creation of the HPTA's bicycle safety program in the L.A. Unified School District. He also served as Executive Director of AVAZ International Dance Theatre. He was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to attend the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services.

After moving to Burbank with his then wife, Chitlik served on the School Facilities Committee of Burbank, overseeing the expenditure of $200 million in the rebuilding of the city’s schools for ten years, nine as chair. He also served as President and kitchen supervisor of Project Chicken Soup, an organization that provides kosher meals to people with HIV/AIDS. He remains on the board of directors.

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