Roman Gonksa is like many kids his age.
He loves hanging out with his friends, playing video games and practicing Jiu Jitsu.
But one thing makes this 10-year-old stand out from other fourth graders and many adults: he is a twice-published author with a third title on the way.
As of January this year, Gonska has published two books in his series The Adventures of Roman German and is already working on a third.
While he has high hopes for where the series may go, Gonska will never forget where his original inspiration came from that started this journey.
From New York to Dublin
Gonska’s parents, John and Rose, met in New York in 2007. They married in 2010 and two years later Gonska was born.
In 2014, he became a big brother when his sister Tiffany was born. The family moved from New York to Sydney, Australia in 2016, where they stayed for three years. A new job opportunity for John moved the family abroad again in 2019 to Tel Aviv, Israel.
“We were thinking that was going to be long-term,” John says. “So both Tiffany and Roman were in Hebrew school, much to their chagrin, … but they were learning. And then that company went bankrupt.”
With no job and their third child Chloe on the way, John and Rose decided to move again, this time back to John’s home state: Ohio.
After facing many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, John landed a job in Columbus and the family began searching for a new home. Several people had recommended the Dublin area, so after some house hunting, the family found the perfect fit and moved in December 2022.
Adventures of writing
Gonska has always been interested in books but fell in love with storytelling after discovering some unused character drawings his mom had from her clothing line.
“I always kind of wondered how authors make a book,” Gonska says. “So, when I heard my mom had all these character designs from a while ago, I was like, ‘Oh, these are awesome. I’ve got so many ideas for them.’ And then my brain told me, ‘I always love to read books, and I think they’re awesome. So what if I could write my own and put my own ideas into it?’”
Over the course of the next nine months, Gonska sat down twice a week after school with his mom and began to tell the tales of Roman German and his three friends, Jerry the giraffe, Rob the robot and Matt the monkey. Their travels take them around the world, highlighting places Gonska saw growing up, as they look for hidden treasures.
With his mom’s illustration skills and editing assistance from his dad and teacher, Gonska and his parents self-published The Adventures of Roman German in spring 2022.
“We self-published because it was a family project. We saw it as just making it a reality for him (Gonska) to see if you work hard, put your mind into it, it can be done,” Rose says.
What started as a fun, family-produced story, soon became a bigger deal after garnering interest from readers and even inspiring fellow Dublin kids. Gonska engaged with readers through book tours and readings, and even created merchandise featuring some of his characters.
After his first book grabbed readers’ attention, Gonska soon wrote and published his second in the series, The Adventures of Roman German #2, earlier this year, growing in confidence and as a writer.
“He’s now 10 years old compared to 8,” Rose says. “That’s why when you read book one, it’s an introduction of the characters you can see it’s for little kids, but this new book is definitely for a little bit older audience, I would say 8 and up.”
Turning the page
There are even more changes readers may see in his third book, which is already in the works. This includes some new characters – such as a dog and an older adult – as well as updated illustrations.
The growth doesn’t stop there. Gonska hopes to one day get to a point where his readers are not
only anxiously waiting for the next book in the series, but talking about it and offering feedback, too.
“After we have a few people reading (the books), then I can start looking at the comments and the reviews of the book and then I can see what they said and I can change my perspective of the book and see what else I can do,” he says.
Gonska says his ultimate goal is to one day see his characters and stories in a TV show, so readers can see and hear them the way he does.
Books one and two are available online through the Roman German website and through other retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble.
Rachel Karas is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at rkaras@cityscenemediagroup.com.
