Archive - May 21, 2014

RPCV Writer Stephan Hirst (Liberia 1962-64) is Winner in Arizona The winner of the adult category 2014 ONE BOOKAZ is Lauren Greasewater’s War by Stephen Hirst (Liberia 1962-64). The “One Book” movement began in 1998 when Nancy Pearl, executive director of the Washington Center for the Book in the Seattle Public Library, initiated “If All Seattle Read the Same Book.” With funding from the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund and several local sponsors, she invited members of the public to read The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks, and brought the author to Seattle for three days in December to discuss his book in a series of free public programs. In 2001, the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book took the One Book Project nationwide, inviting states and cities to choose books for everyone in their area to read and discuss in book clubs and libraries during One Book month (April usually). The number of projects grew rapidly, from 63 in 30 states in June 2002 to more than 350 . . .

RPCV  Jason  (South Africa 1998-2000) author of Power Lines, his Peace Corps memoir published by the National Geographic Society in 2002, has won the Democrat nomination for governor of Georgia. Jason is the great-grandson of RPCV writer Lillian Carter (India 1967-69) who wrote Away From Home: Letters to My Family, published by Simon & Schuster, 1977.  Jason is a state senator Georgia and the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter. Carter, 38, was first elected to the Georgia Senate in May 2010 and has been at the forefront among Democrats on issues like education and redistricting. While Democrats once dominated state politics, the Republicans have been the party in power since 2002 when Sonny Perdue became the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. The state has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since 2000, although President Barack Obama garnered 47 percent of voters in 2008. Last year, Obama received . . .