Archive - August 7, 2014

In 1997, the first annual award for an outstanding poetry book by a Peace Corps writer was presented. • CONGRATULATIONS to Ben Berman (Zimbabwe 1998–2000) for winning the Peace Corps Writers 2014 Best Book of Poetry for his collection  Strange Borderlands published in 2013.  Ben will receive a small cash award and a certificate. John Coyne comments — As editor of Peace Corps Worldwide, several times a week I received books in the mail from RPCV writers — mostly I knew they are coming as I had been forewarned by the author. Then in early 2013 I received one via Amazon.com that came to me without notice — no fanfare, I hadn’t requested it. It was a collection of poems from a guy named Ben Berman. Never heard of him. The jacket cover with its bright colors suggested Africa. When I looked closer I saw that it was an image . . .