Born in Chicago, he served in the U.S. Navy prior to his arrival in Vancouver. In the late 1960s, he co-founded the Georgia Straight Writing Supplements which led to the formation of New Star Books by Lanny Beckman.

He was one of the most significant figures in the rise of British Columbian writing and publishing during the 1970s and 1980s.

A well-known leftist media commentator and former Globe & Mail columnist, Persky has been a sociology professor at Capilano College. Persky first gained wide attention for his popular political books, Son of Socred (1979), The House That Jack Built (1980) and Bennett II (1983).

His autobiographical meditations on homosexuality, Buddy's, received a Hubert Evans B.C. Book Prize nomination and marked a return to Persky's literary roots. The legal, moral and philosophical issues surrounding the case of accused porn collector Robin Sharpe were explored by Stan Persky and John Dixon in Kiddie Porn.

One of Persky's literary icons has been SFU-based English professor Robin Blaser. Persky was also inspired to pursue a literary career when he received a letter from Jack Kerouac in response to his writing as a young man.

Persky was a leading light in an attempt to establish a series of literary/philosophical gatherings in Vancouver cafes during the 1990s. Since then he has increasingly lived part of each year in Germany.