Archive - September 2016

On September 8th at the International Latino Book Awards Ceremony was held in Los Angeles, with an attendance of more than 2,000, and actor James Edward Olmos presenting the awards. Authors and publishers gathered at one of the largest cultural awards honoring Latinos at California State University/ Dominguez Hills outside of Los Angeles. Awards were giving for books in a variety of genres, including Children and Youth Adults, Biography, History, Politics & Current Affairs, Cookbooks, Travel, Science Fiction, among others, in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Among the award winners were: David Edmonds and his wife and coauthor, Maria Neves Edmonds, who won the prize for best fiction for their novel The Girl in the Glyphs, [Peace Corps Writers, 2016]. The Spanish version of David’s novel Lily of Peru [Peace Corps Writers, 2015],   Liro del Peru, also written by David and Maria, won FIRST PLACE as best translation from English to Spanish. Lirio del Peru also won SECOND PLACE . . .

New Anthology Travels to Twenty More Countries Press 53 announces the publication on September 23, 2016, of Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet, Volume II, an anthology of 20 stories by 20 authors set in 20 countries. With a theme of “It’s a Mysterious World,” this exciting addition to the Everywhere Stories series, edited by award-winning author Clifford Garstang (South Korea 1976-77), takes readers on a journey around the globe: to a wrestling match in Turkey, to a mysterious eye doctor in Guatemala, to a homeless man wandering the streets of Chicago, to a religious school in Samoa, to a drowning in Mexico, to a fortune-telling monk in Korea, to a miraculous hotel in Egypt, and to more stories in countries on every continent. With four contributors to the anthology, Cliff will appear at the Book Festival at George Mason University on September 27 at 1:30 pm. They . . .

  Thirster meetings have been described as “a salon that comes together for camaraderie, beer, and to discuss issues of common interest.” Dr. Robert Textor was a young cultural anthropologist who worked at Peace Corps in the very first year.  He created the “In, Up, and Out,” policy, helped to train Thailand I, and edited the classic “Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps.” When he moved to Portland, Oregon after his retirement from Stanford, he organized the Thirsters – A moveable Feast!  John Dougherty now co-coordinates this group and would be willing to help start a Thirsters in Washington, DC. Here is the description by John Dougherty: “Thirsters:  Originally organized by Robert B. Textor (Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Stanford) as a worldwide network in about 1997, Thirsters is an informal group of Peace Corps graduates, academics, public servants, business leaders, and other questioning individuals who discuss issues of peace, freedom, . . .

Marian Haley Beil and I will be holding two workshops at the upcoming NPCA Conference in Washington, D.C. on the afternoon of September 21. As the registration for the Conference says:  a workshop led by John Coyne, co-founder of Peace Corps Writers (2:45-3:45 pm, repeated 4:00-5:00 pm) a panel discussion with published RPCV authors led by Marian Haley Beil, co-founder of Peace Corps Writers (2:45-3:45 pm, repeated 4:00-5:00 pm) Marian’s two panel discussions will feature RPCV authors who have published memoirs of their experiences as Peace Corps Volunteers. It will be an opportunity for you to listen to published authors talk about their books and how they went through the process of bringing their stories to print. My two sessions will be on the history of Peace Corps writers, how RPCV books fit into the long American tradition of expatriate writers and what RPCV writers are doing today in writing their . . .