Archive - 2012

A new novel is out this month from Amazon.com as an ebook written by that wonderful writer, Peter Lefcourt (Togo 1962-64) Peter is best known for his best-selling comic novels: The Deal, The Dreyfus Affair, Di & I, Abbreviating Ernie, The Woody, Eleven Karens and The Manhattan Project. This, however,  is a much more serious book. An American Family is told through the shifting points of view of the five Perl siblings born in the 1940’s, and between the two iconic dates of the last fifty years: the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the catastrophe of 9/11. Within this time frame one family is swept up in the sweeping cultural changes of those years: the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, rock music, drugs, women’s liberation, the turbulence in American culture. Writing this book took Peter away from what he has done to make a living since his Peace Corps . . .

The Independent Publisher Book Awards (the “IPPYs”) are intended to bring increased recognition to the thousands of exemplary independent, university, and self-published titles published each year. The awards are open to all members of the independent publishing industry, and to authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and intended for the North American market. Since the inaugural contest in 1996, over 4,500 books have received IPPY Awards, and all the recognition, credibility, and increased sales that a book award can bring. Independent spirit and expertise comes from publishers of all sizes and budgets, and books are judged with that in mind. Entry for the 2012 IPPYs closed on March 15th. The results were announced last week. Among the winners was a Peace Corps Writers book: Peacemaker of the Year Answering Kennedy’s Call: Pioneering the Peace Corps in the Philippines edited by RPCVs who served in the Philippines . . .

Years ago I went to St. Louis University as a 17-year-old undergraduate to attend their Writer’s Institute and to prepare myself to be the next Great American Novelist. The Writer’s Institute was then one of the few ‘writing programs’ in the country. I never became the Great American Novelist, and in typical Jesuit logic the University closed down their wonderful Writer’s Institute in the 1960s, just when many colleges and universities across the country were emulating the great Iowa Writer MFA program. Teaching creative writing has now become a cash cow for higher education. I am not sure how many full-time and low-residency creative writing programs there are in the U.S. and around the world, but it must be in the thousands. What I find particularly amusing is not that there are so many programs (mostly for poets) but how they go about ‘selling’ themselves to would-be Great American Novelists. . . .

Barry Kitterman will read from his newest collection of short stories, From the San Joaquin, at 7:30 p.m. May 9 in Huber Auditorium in Badgley Hall, Room 102 at EOU. Copies of the author’s work will be available for purchase and signing following the reading presented by EOU’s Ars Poetica Lecture Series. The event is free and open to the public. Kitterman grew up in the small town of Ivanhoe in the San Joaquin Valley and received his undergraduate degree in English at the University of California at Berkeley. After spending two years in the Peace Corps in Belize, he completed the master of fine arts program at the University of Montana. Author Robert Garner McBrearty writes, “Kitterman’s stories are humorous and poignant, tender and touching in their memorable depiction of life in small-town California. He renders his characters so authentically and compassionately we feel we know their hopes and . . .

The Unofficial Peace Corps Handbook by Travis Hellstrom (Mongolia 2008–11) Advance Humanity Publishing 2010 234 pages $15.95 paperback Review by Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras, 1975-77) HELLSTROM’S GUIDE IS OF THE MYSTICAL GENRE, much like Zen In the Art of Archery, for this is a book about acceptance. Unlike recent guides which outline application, training, service and homecoming, this book offers very few lists. It offers comfort. “The happiest Peace Corps Volunteers are the ones who make peace,” explains the author. Be forewarned that if you are concerned about our voracious appetite for paper and the disappearance of forests, the format might disturb you: it contains 97 blank pages (more than one third of the book). The blank pages are for volunteers to write on. Of the pages with print, many contain less than 20 lines like a poetry book. I imagine that the author’s intent is akin to poetry — . . .

Lullaby for the Rain Girl by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988–90) Dark Regions Press, 2012 $45.00 341 pages Reviewed by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) A GHOSTLY GIRL STANDS IN THE DRIVING RAIN without getting wet, facing a mist-shrouded clock tower whose hands are stuck at 4:20. Her mother jumped from that tower long ago, when she, the girl, was a mere blastocyst in her mother’s womb. Many years later she appears as a zombie-like being to her father, who’s ironically named Benjamin Fall. She tries to explain her presence. People like me are not people . . . but whatever we are we’re not ghosts. We’re not spirits. We’re fragments. Partials. Incompletions. If you can love me . . . really love me . . . I might be able to become complete. Ben had somehow conjured her through his own despair and need. He is a high school teacher . . .

Terrence McCoy (Cambodia 2009-11) is, I think, the first RPCV to publish an Amazon Kindle Single. It is the story of how China is trying to buy Cambodia and one woman’s quest to stop it. Called, The Playground, the e-book is  ’36-pages’ long (sells for $1.99) and McCoy mentions the Peace Corps several times. Here’s a quick summary: We’ve heard of China’s buying sprees. That it’s plowed billions of dollars into some of the poorest nations in the world. But the story we don’t know is what this money means for the people there. In Cambodia, the cost has been devastating. More than 700,000 people have lost their homes – others their lives – while China buys the former killing fields for resorts, hotels, and exclusive residences. And as this country of genocide descends into another era of chaos and violence, some whisper it’s the second coming of Pol Pot. But one woman . . .

The regional premiere of “Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Cleveland Heights native Rajiv Joseph will be April 27 at Ensemble Theatre at 8 p.m. This play opened last January on Second Stage in New York City. In “Gruesome Playground Injuries,” childhood friends Kayleen and Doug find their lives intersecting as they compare the scars and physical calamities that keep drawing them together. Joseph today is a writer on Showtime’s current season of the drama “Nurse Jackie,” has won numerous awards, including being a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010. Still, Joseph, who moved to Cleveland Heights when he was four says he is “amazingly excited” to see his work produced where he grew up. “I had works produced all over the world before I was able to do something in Cleveland,” said Joseph.   Joseph says the play is “about a relationship, a friendship. It’s a love story about people who . . .