Ilonka Venier Alexander

Ilonka Venier Alexander is a US/Canadian author who began writing in 2014. She has written and published three previous books: The Life and Times of Franz lexander: From Budapest to California, a biography of her famous grandfather; Growing Up Alexander: My Life with a Psychoanalytic Pioneer, documenting her family’s survival and escape during the Holocaust; and the memoir of her uncle Love and Survival: The Memoir of Arthur Renyi. She holds an undergraduate degree in constitutional history from a California university and a master’s in social work from the University of Southern California. Before becoming an author, she spent more than thirty years working in the field of mental health, with both children and adults in the US and Canada, and is a founding scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council.

The granddaughter of Dr Franz Alexander, one of the original thinkers and pioneers in the field of psychoanalysis, Ilonka grew up with him and was deeply influenced by his work. Her latest work examines the early history of psychoanalysis in the United States and Dr Alexander’s prominent role in shaping the field. It also explores the reasons why his contributions are not more widely recognised by contemporary scholars.