In the early years of the Peace Corps, the agency provided each household of Volunteers with a book locker. The books were meant to provide leisure reading for the PCVs, and then to be left behind in schools, villages, and towns where the Volunteers served. There is some mystery as to who had the idea for the book lockers; one rumor has it that it came from first Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver’s wife, Eunice.
Surely those books were a wonderful resource to any of the PCVs who thought of writing about the incomparable life they were living.
Since 1961 PCVs and Peace Corps Staff have been writing the story of their lives in the developing world, as well as writing about the world beyond the Peace Corps. Among the more than 1000 writers who have served in the Peace Corps who have had their books published are these notable authors:
- George Packer (Togo) The Village of Waiting
- Norm Rush (Botswana) Mating
- Paul Theroux (Malawi) My Secret History
- Kent Haruf (Turkey)Plainsong
- Tony D’Souza(Cote d’Ivoire) Whiteman
- Marnie Mueller (Ecuador) Green Fires
- Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan) Chasing the Sea
- Eileen Drew (Zaire) The Ivory Crocodile
- Kinky Friedman (Borneo) Greenwich Killing Time
- P.F. Kluge (Micronesia) Eddie And the Cruisers
- Peter Lefcourt (Togo) Di And I
- Roland Merullo (Micronesia) Leaving Losapas
- Bob Shacochis (Eastern Caribbean) Swimming in the Volcano
- Mary-Ann Tirone Smith (Cameroon) The Book of Phoebe
- Karin Muller (Philippines) Japanland
- Thurston Clarke (Tunisia) The Last Campaign
- Peter Hessler (China) River Town
- Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia) The High Price of Everything
- Jeffrey Tayler (Morocco) Glory in a Camel’s Eye
- Sarah Erdman (Cote d’Ivoire) Nine Hills to Nambonkaha
- Maria Thomas (Ethiopia) Come to Africa and Save Your Marriage
- Richard Wiley (Korea) Soldiers in Hiding
- Laurence Leamer (Nepal) The Kennedy Men
- Charlie Smith (Micronesia) Shine Hawk
- Maureen Orth (Colombia) The Importance of Being Famous
- Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala) River of Lost Voices
- Peter Chilson (Niger) Disturbance-Loving Species
- Rob Davidson (Grenada) Field Observations
- Jeffrey Tayler (Hungry) Facing The Congo
So, with a nod to the famous Peace Corps Book Locker, our site is offering Peace Corps writers the opportunity to have their books featured on the Book Locker.
In the days ahead we will list books of all types: novels, non-fiction, poetry, photography, essays, self-help, Peace Corps experience, books that have nothing to do with the Peace Corps — both commercial and self-publishedand.
15 Comments So Far»
I want to write a novel about my Peace Corps experience in Indonesia( 1963). Can you tell me how to get started and if there are any publishers I can contact in advance of this effort.
Thank you!
Dick Kravitz
RPCV Indonesia 1963-65
Dick–well, first you have to write your novel. All of it. Then you have to find a publisher. I won’t worry about anything now but writing the book.
I would suggest that you begin by taking a class in creative writing, either at the local college, YMCA, at the library, etc. It depends on where you live and what is available, but usually there are writers around.
By taking a class you’ll meet other writers and they will respond to what you are writing. This sort of criticism is hard to find and great to get as you progress in your book.
John, thank you for your advice
Dick- I’m from indonesia, i’m looking for mary lou fitzgerald who served in padang, Indonesia in 1963. Do you know her? or where i can find information about returned volunteer in indonesia in 1963. Thank You dick
You might want to contact the NPCA
So how do I get my publishing featured here. I have authored numerous books: nonfiction and poetry and now am writing fiction.
Dudley Weeks want don’t you send a list of your books and/or contact myself or Marian Beil.
John
There’s one book about the Peace Corps (albeit not written by a RPCV) not on the list above of which I’m aware.
It’s Karen Schwarz’s “What You Can Do For Your Country: an oral history of the Peace Corps.”
It was published by William Morrow & Co., Inc. in 1991.
Amusingly, the first sentence on the front page of the book’s dust cover is “The Peace Corps is shrouded in myth.”
Myth? Humbug!
Dave L
Group Liberia One
Hi, Dave…I actually know the book, and I know Karen. I was the first person she interviewed for her book, and her editor was (and is still) a good friend. Karen, when I last spoke to her, was living in the D.C. area. The last time I saw her was at her wedding and wonderful reception at the Rainbow Room in New York.
We have the book listed on our old site, PeaceCorpsWriters & Readers and will have it listed on this site once we move all the books over, via cyberspace.
Oddly enough I was just looking at her book earlier today, checking a fact.
Thanks for alerting us all to the book.
John
I just checked the bibliography of Peace Corps authors and I am not on it. I am however one of the four authors listed under the Book Locker. I’m confused.
Hi my name is Inu Kertapati, from University Indonesia, my major is History,
and I’m going to have a research about Peace Corps activity in Indonesia 1963-1965. Is there any people who can help me to tell the activity and the story in Indonesia 1963-1965?
Thank You very much
Regards
Inu Kertapati
Hi Inu,
A good place to begin is the non-government website: Peace Corps Online. Its URL is: peacecorpsonline.org
There is a box on the top of the home page that says: Search PCOL
Choose that.
On the page which comes up, type “Indonesia” in the Search box.
Choose “Search PCOL”
A list of articles about Peace Corps in Indonesia, including the early 1960s should come up.
Good Luck.
wow, thank you very much Joey for your information. It helped me so much.
I am glad that you found it helpful. I hope my instructions were not too confusing. It looks like I duplicated one step. Good Luck.
Hello everybody
I’m searching for RPCV in Indonesia 1963-1965 named Dick Kravitz. Is there anyone have his email address? So I can contact him immediately to share about the peace corps experience in Indonesia 1963-1965. Because I saw he comment in first line and then I can’t ask him again.
Please let me know it if you all know it.
Thank you very much
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