Archive - June 2015

On January 9th, the anniversary of America’s former US Poet Laureate, the 2015 poetry award named for William Meredith was be conferred on Andrew Oerke by the William Meredith Foundation. Oerke who died in 2014, in his lifetime was the CEO of an environmental foundation, president of a microfinance organization, Peace Corps Director, Golden Gloves boxing champion, academic and a poet. “The poet has to write from the real stuff of life, the major concerns of the heart, and of life today,” he has said. Oerke believed that poetry was more than just words on a page, that it is a way of living and perceiving and relating to other people. For them, poetry can be useful in bringing about social justice and serve as a solution for changing the mind and spirit of mankind. “Hunger’s grip is cold stone,” Oerke has written of famine in Africa. “It does not . . .

Peace Corps Worldwide will be there in the guise of Peace Corps Writers. John and I are presenting two programs: “Peace Corps Memoirists Talk about Their Writing” Friday, June 5, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Unit 1 Dormitory Quad – APR (All Purpose Room) The panelists will be: Suzanne Adam, author of Marrying Santiago (Colombia 1964–66) Kay Gillies Dixon, author of Wanderlust Satisfied (Colombia 1962–64) Catherine Onyemelukwe, author of My Life and Loves Abroad (Nigeria 1962–64) Angene Wilson, author of Africa on My Mind: Educating Americans for Fifty Years (1962–64) Writing Your Peace Corps Memoir and Preparing Your Manuscript for Publication Saturday, June 6 – 9 AM– 10 AM Unit 1 – Deutsch John will talk writing; Marian, making your book a reality. Pre-conference social gathering We hope that all Peace Corps writers attending the conference will join us at FreeHouse, in Berkeley Thursday evening, June 4th from 7:30pm – . . .