Peace Corps writers – Peace Corps Worldwide

“Pocket Stories” by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia)

Jun 23 2024

Kathleen Coskran writes: I am currently working on a collection of essays called Married to Amazement (thank you, Mary Oliver for the title), that opens with an essay called “So This Is Paris” that I wrote shortly after leaving Ethiopia. Those two years in Ethiopia were formative for me and prepared me for a life of discovery and even an adventure or two that would never have happened if I hadn’t landed in Addis Ababa in September 1965, 21 years old and ready for….I had no idea, but knew I was incredibly lucky to be there. That’s what these little stories, that I call Pocket Stories, are because they are so short and would fit in a pocket (inspired by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers poem “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket.” I write more stories than poems, but some of them are as short as poems so I post them . . .

“Writers from the Peace Corps” by John Coyne (Ethiopia)

May 09 2024

John writes — Since 1961, Peace Corps writers have used their volunteer service as source material for their fiction and nonfiction. Approximately 250,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps. Of these volunteers and staff, more than 1,500 have published memoirs, novels, and poetry inspired by their experience. Many former volunteers have gone on to careers as creative writing teachers, journalists, and editors, while others have discovered a variety of jobs outside of publishing where their Peace Corps years have contributed to successful employment. A Peace Corps tour has proven to be a valuable experience — in terms of one’s craft and one’s professional career—for more than one college graduate. The first to write The first book to draw on the Peace Corps experience was written by Arnold Zeitlin (Ghana 1961–63), who had volunteered for the Peace Corps in 1961 after having been an Associated Press reporter. That book, . . .

Looking for a publisher for your Peace Corps book?

Apr 13 2024

Go to: The-2024-Guide-to-Manuscript-Publishers

GARDENS OF PLENTY by Ron Arias (Peru)

Mar 19 2024

Gardens of Plenty by Ron Arias (Peru 1963-64) Peace Corps Writers March 2023 333 pages $9.99 (Kindle), $19.99 (Hardcover), $16.99 (paperback) • • • In Gardens of Plenty, Ron Arias immerses readers in a 16th-century world that is both mysterious and magical, exploring the rich culture of “Amexica” with a tenderness that is both persuasive and captivating. Following the publication of his previous work, The Wetback and Other Stories, which earned praise from Paul Theroux for providing a compassionate glimpse into an adjacent neighborhood, Arias continues his literary journey with this epic work of historical fiction. A seasoned writer and author with a diverse bibliography, Arias brings his narrative talent to Gardens of Plenty, providing a deeply sensitive, first-person account of one man’s early years in the New World. Drawing on his nomination for a National Book Award with The Road To Tamazunchalc, and his skill in crafting truc survival sagas . . .

“Fire in the Huts!!!” by John Chromy (India)

Feb 18 2024

by John Chromy (India 1963–65) • • • Late one afternoon in November of 1964 my Peace Corps housemate, Gordon Louden and I were working at our desks in the Gramsevak Training Center, when we smelled smoke and began to hear people shouting and running toward some informal huts on the outer edge of our Training Center buildings. In India there are numerous wandering, almost gypsy-like, tribes of working people who move to locations where there is seasonal or temporary work to be had. One of those tribes, the Lombardi people had come to Gangawati to work on the construction of feeder lines of the Tungabhadra Irrigation Project. They had established a semi-formal camp of about 50 huts on government-owned land about 40 yards north of our Center. These huts were constructed of a wooden framing, walls made of sticks and shrubbery and roofs covered with straw, coconut leaves and other . . .

A Short Story | “The Paperboy” by Chris Honore’ (Colombia)

Feb 17 2024

By Chris Honoré (Colombia 1967-69) • • • My elementary school was called Allendale, a name I never gave much thought to. It was a massive, pale green, two-story Victorian building on a quiet neighborhood street. I wanted to be a paperboy Two years before I headed off to Jr. High School, I suggested to my folks that being a paperboy would build character, or wobbly words to that effect, and solve my financial situation — I was always short of pocket change for, say, a Superman comic or baseball cards wrapped in waxy paper along with a square of pink bubble gum. To sweeten my argument, I pointed out that the “newspaper shack,” where a cohort of boys gathered each afternoon, waiting for the hot off the presses bundles of newspapers to arrive, was less than a block away from Allendale. “Fine,” my parents said, with some reluctance. “Let’s see how . . .

8 U.S. BIKE TOURS by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia)

Feb 14 2024

8 U.S. Bike Tours Historical Routes by Stephen Foehr (Ethiopia 1965-66) Fohr + Son Publisher 12–18 years January 2024 233 pages $6.99 (Kindle); $12.00 (Paperback) 8 U.S. Bike Tours Historical Routes is a travel book, not a guide book.Routes are given historical context so you are knowledgeable about the place. Descriptions of the rides tells miles, altitude gains, revelations, and practical tips. The physical and emotional experiences on the ride is told from a first-hand account. Description of the rides tells miles, altitude gains, revelations, and practical tips. Tours featured from Lizard Head Cycling Guides trips Colorado/Utah/Arizona Redrock Canyon and Monument Valley Mississippi Natchez Trace Northern New Mexico South Dakota Black Hills/Badlands Utah National Parks Arizona Trail of the Apaches Pennsylvania Bridges and Battlefields New York-Vermont-Montreal

Carolyn Mulford (Ethiopia) sums up her long writing career

Feb 14 2024

Fall, 1949, is scary, but exciting, for farm-girl Gail Albright. When she begins junior high at the nearby town of Craigsburg, she has no idea of the struggles and friendships she will find. She’s the butt of jokes made by class snob Veronica Holt, and Veronica’s stuck-up clique. And they especially make fun of Gail for wearing a feedsack dress her mother made for her. After Gail’s first taste of humiliation, she knows she must find a way to overcome her embarrassment and anger. The only thing harder than putting up with Veronica’s mean teasing is finding the strength to beat her at her own game. With a little help from her friends, Gail might just pull it off. Why I Wrote THE FEEDSACK DRESS Posted on February 12, 2024 by Carolyn Mulford . . . Over more than 30 years, I wrote and rewrote The Feedsack Dress, . . .

ACROSS THE KENTUCKY COLOR LINE by Lee Durham Stone (Jamaica)

Feb 13 2024

Across the Kentucky Color Line: Cultural Landscapes of Race from The Lost Cause to Integration by Lee Durham Stone (Jamaica (1979-82) Self Published December 2023 300 pages $7.99 (Kindle); $27.00 (Hardback) In Beloved, novelist Toni Morrison has her protagonist Sethe say that she thought she was “gonna die in wild onions on the bloody side of the Ohio River.” That violent side of the river was Kentucky, the subject of Across the Kentucky Color Line. This study examines Kentucky’s violent history of racial relations from 1865 to 1970, focusing on Muhlenberg County, its seven contiguous neighbors, and others in the Bluegrass State. The author prefaces the book with his experience of a segregated school trip to see “The Ten Commandments” in 1957. Historical topics include Kentucky’s post-Civil War racial strife, the Jim Crow era, Lost Cause politics, and a detailed examination of a trial and public “legal lynching” in . . .

FROM MOUNTAINS TO MEDICINE by Erica Elliott (Ecuador)

Feb 12 2024

From Mountains to Medicine: Scaling the Heights in Search of My Calling Erica M. Elliott, M.D. (Ecuador 1974–1976) Lammastide Publishing January 2024 383 pages $19.95 (paperback), $16.99 (Kindle) Erica Elliott resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she has a busy medical practice. Erica was born into a large family with a Swiss mother and an American father. Throughout her childhood, Erica moved with her family from one part of the world to another due to her father’s work. She began her schooling in England, graduated from high school in Germany, and then studied art in Florence, Italy, before returning to the States to attend college. The seeds for becoming a medical doctor were first sown when she spent a summer in Switzerland learning from her uncle, an eccentric and brilliant medical doctor. It took many years before those seeds sprouted. Erica came to medicine later than most . . .

Pocket Stories by Kathleen Coskran (Ethiopia)

Feb 07 2024

Why write stories? A story is the most universal narrative, told by everybody around the world. We all lean forward when somebody says let me tell you about the time when, we wait for the and then, and we watch the story unfold in our mind’s eye. We see him crouched there, hear her voice, feel the stroke of the cat against our leg, hold our breath when the door creaks. Stories are words at their most powerful. Stories make us laugh, cry, sweat, hold our breath, fall in love, and remind us of the infinite ways we are human. Nobody is too young or too old for a story. My stories are short—pocket stories—a title inspired by the Beatrice Schenk de Regniers poem “Keep a Poem in Your Pocket.” I write more stories than poems, but some of them are as short as poems so I post them . . .

“How a Guinea Fowl Led Soldiers to Pound on My Door at 4 AM” by Curt Mekemson (Liberia)

Feb 04 2024

CURT MEKEMSON JANUARY 29, 2024 First the story about the soldiers. I’ve told it before in my book about my Peace Corps experience, The Bush Devil Ate Sam, and on my blog. Because it involved Guinea fowls, it deserves being told again. It was 1967 and I had just returned from my Peace Corps job of teaching history and geography at the nearby Gboveh High School in Gbarnga, Liberia. Much to my surprise — and dismay — I found soldiers standing in our yard pointing guns every which way. It was an ‘Ut-Oh’ moment. Liberian soldiers were scary. “What’s up?” I asked, trying not to sound nervous. You learned early on not to mess with Liberian soldiers. There was a reason why the government refused to issue them bullets. “Your dog ate one of the Superintendent’s Guinea hens,” their sergeant mumbled ominously. The Superintendent of Bong County was the equivalent to . . .

“And the Wall Came Tumbling Down” by John Chromy (India)

Feb 01 2024

It was in June of 1964 when the “wall came tumbling down” during a sitdown dinner for 6 people. The setting was in a private home in the town of Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh State. Four of us Peace Corps Volunteers had been temporarily assigned to develop and teach a pilot health/nutrition/gardening curriculum to be used in training village school teachers throughout Andhra State (population 36 million). This experimental course was conducted at the Zaheerabad Basic Training Institute (BTI), where some 160 future primary school teachers were undergoing training. Amongst the faculty and students at the BTI there was considerable excitement to have Americans teaching at their school. In the 1960s America was mostly an admired country and there was much curiosity about the American people, their way of life and the work of these four American guest instructors. In fact, one of the faculty members very cautiously and . . .

Review | FACE TO FACE WITH WAR by Leo Cecchini (Ethiopia)

Jan 25 2024

Face to Face with War by Leo Cecchini (Ethiopia 1962–64) Independently published October 2022 254 pages $15.00 (paperback), $9.00 (Kindle) Reviewed by Mike Donovan • • • Leo Cecchini, the author of Face to Face With War, has lead the kind of life most of us can only imagine. His book takes us from his Peace Corps experience as a geography teacher and soccer coach in Asmara, Ethiopia at the beginning of the 30 year struggle for Eritrean independence to his many experiences in the U.S. foreign service. His first assignment in the foreign service was in Panama where he met some decidedly shady characters trying to run weapons to Biafra during the breakaway war with Nigeria. He outsmarted them! From Panama he was sent to Vietnam during the period of heaviest fighting. He was part of a joint military/civilian program designed to help stabilize the country. Each of his new . . .

AMERICAN SEASONS by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala)

Jan 20 2024

American Seasons by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93) Main Street Rag Publisher 228 pages June 2024 $18.95 (Paperback) (*Buy now at a pre-publication discount of $10.95) Mark Brazaitis’ third novel and ninth book, American Seasons, will be published as a paperback original in June by Main Street Rag. • • • American Seasons is about a small college basketball team in the early 1960s, its ambitious coach, his young, idealistic, beautiful wife, the team’s two star players (one black, one white), and the sports editor who hopes to chronicle a championship season. All goes well . . . until it doesn’t. Past secrets and present tensions threaten to upend the team’s magical season — and explode the lives of everyone connected with it. American Seasons, Brazaitis says, began as a play, “but with all the ambitions I had for it, it would have run nine hours.” In addition to basketball, the novel is about . . .