About the Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Awards
Paul Cowan
THE PAUL COWAN NON-FICTION AWARD, first given 1990, was named to honor Paul Cowan, a Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Ecuador from 1966 to 1967.
Cowan wrote The Making of An Un–American: A Dialogue with Experience about his time as a Volunteer in Latin America in the ’60s. A longtime activist and political writer for The Village Voice, Cowan died of leukemia in 1988.
Awards are presented to books published during the previous year.
To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover or the bold book title, and Peace Corps Worldwide — an Amazon Associate — will receive a small remittance that will help support these annual writers awards.
The winners of the Paul Cowan Non-fiction Award are —
2024
The Showgirl and the Writer —
A Friendship Forged in the Aftermath of the Japanese American Incarceration
by Marnie Mueller (Ecuador 1963-65)
2020
Race Across America: Eddie Gardner and the Great Bunion Derbies
Charles Kastner (Seychelles 1980–82)
2019
Chasing Heisenberg: The Race for the Atom Bomb
Michael Joseloff (Tunisia 1967-69)
2018
Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit
Christopher J. Matthews (Swaziland 1968-70)
O
2017
The Embassy: A Story of War and Diplomacy
Dante Paradiso (Kenya 1993–95)
O
2016
The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World
Steven Radelet (Samoa 1981–83)
O
2015
Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy
Christopher Hill (Cameroon 1974–76)
2014
The Price of Justice: A True Story of Greed and Corruption
Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1964–66)
2013
The Springs of Name:
A Ten-Year Journey from the Villages of Nepal to the Halls of Congress
Rafeev Goyal (Nepal 2001–03)
2012
The African American Odyssey of John Kizell:
The Life and Times of a South Carolina Slave
Who Returned to Fight the Slave Trade in His African Homeland
Kevin Lowther (Sierra Leone 1963–65)
2011
Faith, Interrupted: A Spiritual Journey
Eric Lax (Micronesia 1966–68)
2010
Madness Under the Royal Palms
Love and Death Behind the Gates of Palm Beach
Laurence Leamer (Nepal 1964–66)
2009
The Last Days of Old Beijing:
Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed
Michael Meyer China 1995–97)
2008
The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafeness and Africa
Josh Swiller (Zambia 1994–96)
2007
Monique and the Mango Rains
Kris Holloway (Mali 1989–91)
2006
Last Moon Dancing: A Memoir of Love and Real Life In Africa
Monique Maria Schmidt (Benin 1998–2000)
2005
The Importance of Being Famous:
Behind the Scenes of the Celebrity-Industrial Complex
Maureen Orth (Colombia 1964–66)
2004
Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village
Sarah Erdman (Cote D’Ivoire 1998–00)
O
2003
Power Lines: Two Years on South Africa’s Borders
Jason Carter (South Africa 1998–2000)
2002
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze
Peter Hessler (China 1996–98)
2001
Blood of the Liberals
George Packer (Togo 1982–83)
2000
Mango Elephants in the Sun:
How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin
Susana Herrera (Cameroon 1992-94)
1999
An Inn Near Kyoto: Writing by American Women Abroad
Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia 1965–67), editor with C. W. Truesdale
1998
The Last Camel: True Stories About Somalia
Jeanne D’haem (Somalia 1968–70)
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1997
Amazon Stranger: A Rainforest Chief Battles Big Oil
Mike Tidwell (Zaire 1985–87)
1996
Out of Isak Dinesen in Africa: Karen Blixen’s Untold Story
Linda Donelson (Cameroon 1965–66, Ghana 1966–67)
1995
Harmattan: A Journey Across the Sahara
Geraldine Kennedy (Liberia 1962–64)
1994
Portrait of Nepal
Kevin Bubriski (Nepal 1975–79)
1993
Death without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil
Nancy Scheper-Hughes (Brazil 1964–66)
1992
The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia
P. F. Kluge (Micronesia 1968–69)
1991
The Ponds of Kalambayi
Mike Tidwell (Zaire 1985–87)
1990
For his collected works, including
Living Poor — A Peace Corps Chronicle
Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965–67)