Books Nominated for 2019 Peace Corps Writing Awards

To further fulfill its goals to encourage, recognize and promote Peace Corps writers, RPCV Writers & Readers, the newsletter that was the precursor of PeaceCorpsWriters.org and PeaceCorpsWorldwide.org, presented its first annual awards for outstanding writing in 1990. A total of 143 awards have been given since that time.

If you have a book published in 2018 that you wish to nominate, please email John Coyne at: jcoyneone@gmail.com The Awards will be announced in August, 2019.

The awards are:

The Maria Thomas Fiction Award
The Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award
The Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award
The Award for Best Poetry Book
The Award for Best Travel Book
The Award for Best Photography Book
The Award for Best Children’s Book
Other Awards

Books published in 2018 that have already been nominated are:

 Travel Books: The Award for Best Travel Book

Why Travel Matters: A Guide to the Life-Changing Effects of Travel
By Craig Storti (Morocco 1970-72)

More Than Birding: Observations from Antarctica, Madagascar, and Bhutan
By Harriet Denison (Tanzania 1966-67)

Asia Without Borders 
By Steve Kaffen (Russia 1994-96)

Novel: The Maria Thomas Fiction Award

The Red Land
By Arthur B. Dobrin (Kenya 1965-67)

Secrets of the Moon
By Tema Encarnacion (Dominican Republic 2000-01)

Song of Quebec
By Dan Close (Ethiopia 1964-66)

Treason and Triumph
By Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966-68)

The Last Thing I Told You
By Emily Arsenault (South Africa 2004-06)

Jamie’s Muse
By Bonnie Lee Black (Gabon 1996-98)

The Heretic of Granad
By David C. Edmonds (Chile 1963-65)

To Save an Empire: A Novel of Ottoman
By Allan R. Gall (Turkey 1962-64)

Remind Me Again What Happened
By Joanna Luloff (Sri Lanka 1996-98)

Dream of Another America
By Tyler McMahon (El Salvador (1999-02)

Raw Dawgin’
By David J. Mather (Chile 1968-70)

Longing to Be Free: The Bear, the Eagle and the Crown
By Judith Guskin (Thailand 1962-64)

A Dancer’s Guide to Africa
By Terez Mertes Rose (Gabon 1985-87)

The White Kahuna: or, Robert Louis Stevenson, Detective
By Joseph Theroux (Western Samoa 1975-78)

The Devil’s Throat: or, Robert Louis Stevenson, Detective
By Joseph Theroux (Western Samoa 1975-78)

A Grain of Sand
By Bryant Wieneke (Niger 1974-76)

The Delight of Being Ordinary: A Road Trip with the Pope and Dalai Lama
By Roland Merullo (Micronesia 1979-80)

Border Penance and Other Stories
By Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77)

In the Amber Chamber: Stories
By Carrie Messenger (Moldova 1994-96)

Poetry: The Award for Best Poetry Book

The Imaginal Marriage
By Eleanor Stanford (Cape Verde 1998-2000)

Use Your Voice! Political Poetry and More
By Dorothy Herzberg (Nigeria 1961-63)

Nature’s Poetry
By Eldon Katter (Ethiopia 1962-64)

Borderland: An Exploration of States of Consciousness in New and Selected Sonnets
By Julie R. Dargis (Morocco 1984-87)

Non-Fiction; The Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award

Our Woman in Havana: A Diplomat’s Chronicle of America’s Long Struggle with Castro’s Cuba
By Vicki Huddleston (Peru 1964-66)

Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb
By Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69)

Breaking Kola: An Inside View of African Customs
By Katherine Onyemelukwe (Nigeria 1962-64)

The Baby Flight: A True Story
By Paul H. Karrer (Western Samoa 1978-80)

Goodricke’s Time
By A.C.Theokas (Jamaica 1969-71)

The Cottage On the Bay: Family Saga of Scots Grove Plantation by the Sea in the Carolinas
By Ruben Gonzales (Liberia 1971-76)

Roost: Confessions of a First-Time Chicken Farmer
By Bronwyn Mitchell-Strong (Botswana 1994-96)

Treason and Triumph
By Martin R. Ganzglass (Somalia 1966-68)

Allies and Adversaries: Churchill and the Man Who Would Be France
By Richard K. Irish (Philippines 1962-64)

Dragonfly Notes: On Distance and Loss
By Ann Panning (Philippines 1988-90)

Magic Hours: Essays on Creators and Creation
By Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996)

What Sahel Am I Doin’ Here: 30 Years of Misadventures in Africa
By Steve Wisecarver (Senegal 1976-78; Staff-CD Madagascar, Kenya 2008-2013)

Notes from the Bottom of the World: A Life in Chile
By Suzanne Adam (Columbia 1964-66)

Then Again
By Ben Berman (Zimbabwe 1998-2000)

Human Rights, They Matter
By Justin Bibee (Morocco 2014-16)

Peace Corps Memoirs;The Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award

Lenin’s Asylum: Two Years in Moldova
By A.A. Weiss (Moldova 2006-08)

Into the Backlands: A Peace Corps Memoir
By Kenneth E .Dugan Fliés (Brazil 1961-63)

The Vodka Diaries: A Peace Corps Volunteer’s Adventures in Russia
By Richard Sayette (Russian Far East 1994-95)

Island People: Finding Our Way
By Henry R. Danielson (Malawi 1967-68)

Shade of the Paraiso: Two Years in Paraguay, South America—A Memoir
By Mark Salvatore (Paraguay 1989-91)

East of Edgerton: A Memoir of Peace Corps and Beyond
By Jim Krosschell (Korea 1975-77)

Editor’s Award

Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet, Volume III
Edited by Clifford Garstang (South Korea 1976-77

Peace Corps Bibliography
Edited By Lawrence F. Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77)

Queen of Hearts: The Story of Anna Sipl Meyers
Edited by Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96)

The Award for Best Photography Book

The Award for Best Children’s Book

Special Awards

Evolving Brains, Emerging Gods: Early Humans and the Origins of Religion
By E. Fuller Torrey (Ethiopia Staff/Medical 1964-66)