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Poems
Words Create Worlds: Poems
Ada Jo Mann (Chad 1967-69)
Peace Corps Writers
147 pages
April 2023
$14.99 (paperback)
Words Create Worlds is a collection of poems that span the life of the author, Ada Jo Mann, who grew up in Detroit, Michigan and who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chad from 1967-69. Her Peace Corps service led to a career in international development which took her to many countries around the world where she focused on building strong communities and organizations using a strength-based approach to change called “Appreciative Inquiry.”
Upon the author’s retirement, she began taking courses at the independent bookstore, Politics and Prose, in Washington, DC. As a participant in the Poetry Circle she was inspired to try her hand at writing poetry and this collection of her poems was the result. In addition to the international focus of her poems, the author writes about memories of growing up and the impact of nature on her daily life.
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Land Between Two Waters: The Peace Corps Fourteen Years in Iran 1962–1976
Genna Stead Wangsness (Iran 1965–67, Iran staff 1967)
Peace Corps Writers
May 2023
$32.99 (paperback)
Peace Corps history
Land Between Two Waters is a two-volume, chronological history of the fourteen years Peace corps volunteers served in the Middle East country of Iran from 1962 to 1976l.
Over 50 groups followed them, bringing more than 1700 volunteers to work alongside everyday Iranians. There were successes. There wore disappointments. Along the way, driven by curiosity and an impulse for service, they gained a broader understanding of the world and themselves.
The PCIA (Peace Corps Iran Association) historian spent ten years researching and writing this chronological account of the 14 years of Peace Corps’ service in Iran.
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Memoir with portion on Peace Corps
Memories of Choices, People, Places, and Events That Shaped My Life
by John F. Fanselow (Nigeria 1961–63, staff: Somalia 1966–68)
Peace Corps Writers
679 pages
May 2023
$20.00 (paperback)
In Memories . . . John Fanselow tells the story of his love of teaching and his revolutionary mantra of “Try the opposite” — from Nigeria to New York to New Zealand, and many places in between.
After majoring in English and Spanish for his BA and MA from Northern Illinois University, he applied to become a Peace Corps Volunteer in Latin America. While there were no openings there, he was fortunately accepted to teach at a teacher training college in Nigeria for two years, and it was there that the “Try the opposite” technique blossomed into his life-long calling.
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History, Memoir
The Showgirl and the Writer: A Friendship Forged in the Aftermath of the Japanese American Incarceration
by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65)
Peace Corps Writers
488 pages
July 2023
$16.95 (Paperback)
The Showgirl and the Writer: A Friendship Forged in the Aftermath of the Japanese American Incarceration, by Marnie Mueller, is a hybrid memoir/biography. It encompasses Mueller’s own story, beginning at her birth to Caucasian parents in the Tule Lake Japanese American High Security Camp in Northern California, and tells the tale of her long friendship with Mary Mon Toy, a Nisei performer who was incarcerated in the Minidoka Japanese American Camp in Idaho during WWII.
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Short stories
Even the Geckos Are Starving and Other Stories
Martin R. Ganzglaww
Peace Corps Writers
317 pages
August 2023
$10.00 (paperback)
In this collection of short stories, Somali refugees in a camp in northern Kenya confront the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Nairobi; a jet fuel spill at Pearl Harbor threatens Honolulu’s water supply; a trusted doorman turns to burglary and discovers a surprising partner; a seaman is seriously injured and is confined in an unknown place where no one speaks his language; and a high brow magazine runs a personal ad for sexual services with unforeseen consequences.
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