In Search of Self
There are probably a dozen different ways I can tell you my story. There are also probably a dozen different people who would—if you ask them about me—each tell you a different story. When writing about oneself, even an honest and decent man would write only the good stuff and leave out the bad, and as true as such a biography might be, after closer examination, it would start to blur the line between truth and fiction.
We’ve all read—in books that aim to make you feel better—that the past doesn’t define us, and yet it’s hard to find a biography containing only someone’s future plans. If our desires and dreams were our entire identity, why do we screw up our New Year’s resolutions year after year? Evidently, the past is important, but what normal and confident person would pin their past achievements on the wall and look at them for daily inspiration?
The truth is rarely on paper. It’s in the drunken words spilled in a bar, or the ghostly fog that blankets a boundless ocean, as we sail between the continents of past and future. We are boats with broken compasses, masts shattered by the storm, but with courage and hearts as big as Columbus’s.
Fernando Pessoa said that we all have two lives: the one we live—the practical, false one—and the one we dream—the true one. I agree with him and can only add that life itself is fiction, and by living it, we write stories.
Mine began in Zagreb, Croatia, on a cold December day in 1978.
A Desire to Learn, Sail, Dive, Travel, Fly, and Write
Call me Fran Hersh. I’m a writer, archaeologist, anthropologist, pilot, skipper, scuba-diving instructor, life philosopher, and worldwide vagrant. But what else would you expect from a Sagittarius born in the year of the horse? I’m an old-fashioned romantic—lost in time—who believes that consumerism, the digital age, and post-modernism are unraveling the fabric of human existence.
When you’re young, there are three things you should never be short of: travel, the pursuit of truth, and love. Journeying to remote places, diving from lonely tropical beaches, hunting caimans on jungle rivers, and flying over the Amazon have been both my passion and comfort since my twenties. There’s no better place to fall in love with than South America.
I’ve sailed oceans and climbed the Andes. Traveling alone, I’ve trekked through the Amazon, excavated archaeological sites in Peru, and worked as a journalist, archaeologist, tourist pilot, and scuba diving instructor trainer. Through my roams and rambles, I’ve lived and traveled in Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, France, Italy, England, Spain, Portugal, and beyond.
One of my passions is languages—I’ve learned ten, from ancient to native and modern, and speak fluently in English, German, Portuguese, Croatian, French, Italian, and Spanish. I’ve found that the best way to learn a language is to fall in love with a place and its people.
Curriculum Vitae
It’s funny that the word “curriculum” comes from the Latin verb currere, which means “to run,” so curriculum vitae would mean “the life’s run.” Maybe the Romans got it right—life truly runs. At least, mine has.
I grew up in Croatia. At sixteen, I took my first summer job as a sailor—a skipper on sailboats. It was fun, but it also taught me leadership and responsibility, making me liable for people’s lives and the boat. After high school, where I specialized in mathematics and natural sciences, I enrolled at the University of Zagreb, later studying at Regensburg and Berlin, focusing on archaeology, history, anthropology, and languages. During this time, I also attended lectures at Paris Sorbonne and worked as a bartender in London. With this experience, I opened Indy’s Cocktails and Dreams, Croatia’s first cocktail bar, which was a great success. I later sold it and moved to Germany to pursue my studies and adventures throughout Europe and South America. Along the way, I became a father to a beautiful daughter.
Upon returning to Croatia, I opened Fran’s Reef, a French fusion restaurant in Zagreb, followed by a diving center in Istria a few years later. But I soon realized that the poetry of life was lost in the routines of entrepreneurship. Being anchored to one place didn’t align with my restless spirit, so I let it all go to pursue a life of words, travel, and stories—finally settling in Brazil as a writer.
During my studies in Leadership at the University of Zagreb, I developed a passion for Plato, political philosophy, psychology, and self-discovery. I explored the roots of ethikē (ἠθική)—the art of how to live a good life—and eu koinonia (εὖ κοινωνία)—the concept of a well-functioning, virtuous society and how to build it. These studies led to my first published book, Flawed Democracy, a critique and reimagination of modern political systems.
After seven years of working on my novel and honing my style, I’m now on the brink of publishing my first novel, Tropics of Heart.
It’s about love, friendship, and adventure.