Peace Corps writers

Forthcoming on August 29, 2015, the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall a new novel by Ellen Urbani. The story is this…. Rosebud Howard almost survives. She charges through the Lower Ninth Ward, beating the wall of floodwater by a half-block. She clambers out of an attic, onto a roof, into a rowboat. But her grueling trek to Tuscaloosa, in search of help for her family, ends when she’s hit and killed by a car laden with supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims. Passenger Rose Aikens, orphaned by the crash, climbs away from the wreck after lacing the dead girl’s sneakers onto her own feet. When she discovers they share not only shoes but a name and a birth year, Rose embarks upon a guilt-assuaging odyssey to retrace Rosebud’s last steps and locate her remaining kin. The stories and destinies of these two teenagers-one black, one white-converge in Landfall, giving voice to . . .

A Writer Writes • Fear and Loathing on the Inca Trail by Folwell Dunbar (Ecuador 1989-92) After all these years I still have flashbacks. When I see a child blindly strike a piñata or when I smell a rotten egg, the memory, lodged deep in my scarred bowels explodes to the surface. Like Marlon Brando in the heart of darkness, I recall, “The horror, the horror.” “¡Levántate Leonardito! ¡Vamos!” the campesino or farmer yelled from the base of the hill. “Get up little Leonardo! Let’s go!” Like grilled cheese, I was pressed between a lumpy straw mattress and a stack of cheap coarse blankets. I didn’t want to levántate; I was warm and reasonably content. I pretended not to hear. Moments later though, the campesino pounded on my front door causing chards of adobe to cascade down on my head. “Deme un ratito,” I pleaded. “Give me a second. I’ll . . .

My novel Hobgoblin (written in 1981) is being republished in November by Dover Publications. This is how is appears now on Amazon.com for pre-order. Ancient magic and contemporary horror combine in this tale of a lonely boy’s increasing immersion into a sword-and-sorcery fantasy game. Within the isolation of a medieval Irish manor house rebuilt on the banks of the Hudson, Scott Gardiner drifts deeper into the myth-laden world of Hobgoblin as the line between nightmare and reality erodes. This novel was first published in 1981 at the height of Dungeons & Dragons’ popularity & soon after the intense media coverage of the Egbert steam tunnel incident (urban myths wherein roleplaying gamers enacting live action role-playing games perish, often in the utility tunnels below their university campuses). Here are two reviews of the first edition from GoodRead. The book, by the way, received a 3.33 of 5 Stars from 39 reviews. . . .

To purchase any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the book cover, the bold book title, or the publishing format you would like — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support the site and the annual Peace Corps Writers awards. • To Banquet with the Ethiopians: A Memoir of Life Before the Alphabet (A verse memoir) by Philip Brady (Zaire 1980–82) Broadstone Books June 2015 168 pages $24.94 (hardcover); $18.50 (paperback) • The Unspoken: The Lost Novel by Christopher Conlon (Botswana 1988-90) CreateSpace January 2015 776 pages $25.95 (paperback) . • Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience, & Spirit by Rabbi Rachel Cowan (Ecuador 1966–67) and and  Dr. Linda Thal Behrman House Publishing May 2015 $16.95 (paperback) . . • Mersin-10, Turkey: Six Years in Northern Cyprus (Memoir) by Eddie James Girdner (India 1968–70) CreateSpace June 2015 374 pages $19.95 . . .

The Peace Corps Writers Award for Best Travel Book was first presented in 2001. • And the winner for Best Travel Book published in 2014 is . . . . 100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay before You Die by Kristen Hare (Guyana 2000–02) Reviewer Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993–96) said about 100 Things . . .: 100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay is not your ordinary guide book, but describes the historic district of the cigar capital — Ybor City, Latin and European influences on cuisine, the awesome Salvador Dali Museum, the Ringling Museum with its circus model, professional football and soccer teams that date from the 1970s, and surrounding meccas of St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Sarasota. The book is divided into chapters on “Food and Drink,” “Music and Entertainment,” “Sports and Recreation,” Culture and History,” “Shopping and Fashion,” with suggested itineraries and seasonal activities. No tourist . . .

The Peace Corps Writers Award for Best Children’s Book was first presented in 2001. Each award is given the  year following its the publishing. This year we have something special — for the first time since Peace Corps Writers has been presenting book awards in 1990 we have a repeat winner. Just last year Jim Averbeck won the same award for his book The Market Bowl that was published in 2013. • The 2015 Award for Best Children’s Book goes to — A Hitch at the Fairmont by Jim Averbeck (Cameroon 1990–94) . In 1956 at the fabulous San Francisco Fairmont Hotel, 11-year-old Jack teams up with the famous movie director Alfred Hitchcock to uncover a plot involving drugged chocolates, mistaken identities, kidnapping, disguises, and close escapes. References to actual Hitchcock films and anecdotes abound throughout, in chapter headings, settings, and focused descriptions reminiscent of camera pan-ins. Congratulations again, Jim! . . .

The winner of the 2015 Peace Corps Writers Best Poetry Book is THE CONSOLATIONS by John W. Evans (Bangladesh 1999–2001) John Evans was twenty-nine years old and his wife, Katie, was thirty. They had met in the Peace Corps in Bangladesh, taught in Chicago, studied in Miami, and were working for a year in Romania, when they set off with friends to hike into the Carpathian Mountains. In an instant, their life together was shattered. Katie became separated from the group. When John finally found her, he could only watch helplessly as she was mauled to death by a brown bear. In the quieter, daily emotions that continue after the formal occasions for mourning are over, and in the six years that follow Katie’s death, the poems of The Consolations articulate the dislocations and disruptions of grief in a continuing life. It looks to both past and future to make . . .

Deborah Solomon, art critic of WNYC radio, reviewed  two art books under the topic “Montmartre/Montparnasse” for the Sunday, June 28th issue of the NYTimes “Book Review.” One of the books was Stanley Meisler’s  Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse. Here, in part is what Ms. Solomon had to say about Shocking Paris: I far preferred Stanley Meisler’s “Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse,” which picks up where [Sue] Roe’s book [In Montmartre: Picasso, Matiss and Modernism in Paris 1900–1910] leaves off. In 1912, irritated by an influx of tourists who were crowding the cafes and poking around in his neighborhood, Picasso moved out of his studio in the Bateau-Lavoir and across the Seine to Montparnasse, on the Left Bank. Other artists arrived in short order. Among them was Chaim Soutine, a Russian Jewish exile who became the leading Expressionist painter of his era. For . . .

First given in 1990, the Maria Thomas Fiction Award is named for the novelist Maria Thomas [Roberta Worrick (Ethiopia 1971–73)] who lost her life in August, 1989, while working in Ethiopia for a relief agency. • The winner of the 2015 Maria Thomas Fiction Award is Kilometer 99 — A Novel by Tyler McMahon (El Salvador 1999–2002) Quoting our review by Phil Damon (Ethiopia 1963–65): This is a gem of a book. It’s a coming of age saga that touches on visceral themes affecting numerous cultures in a disarmingly naïve narrative voice. Under the guise of a surfer’s escape fantasy gone haywire, author Tyler McMahon deftly enables his part-Hawaiian Peace Corps Volunteer engineer Malia to narrate her story in such a way that it unfolds on numerous levels of situation and meaning. At one level, it’s a fictional chronicle of the El Salvador earthquakes of 2001, limning the experiences of . . .

THE PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE AWARD was initiated in 1992. It is presented annually to a Peace Corps Volunteer or staff member, past or present for the best depiction of life in the Peace Corps — be it daily life, project assignment, travel, host country nationals, other Volunteers, readjustment. Initially entries could be short works including: personal essay, story, novella, poem, letter, cartoon, or song. Beginning in 2009 memoirs were added to the list. In 1997, this award was renamed to honor Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965–67) whose Living Poor has been widely cited as an outstanding telling of the essence of the Peace Corps experience. • The winner of the 2015 Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award is At Home on the Kazakh Steppe: A Peace Corps Memoir by Janet Givens (Kazakhstan 2004–06) • In her memoir, Janet clearly expresses the First Goal of the Peace Corps, writing that as a . . .

First given in 1990, the Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award 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 about his experiences 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. • The winner of the 2015 Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award is — Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy. by Christopher R. Hill (Cameroon 1974-76) Chris Hill begins his award winning book by telling his favorite story, his account of how as a PCV in Cameroon he tried to overhaul a corrupt credit union only to have his efforts rejected, largely because he did not understand the community’s internal dynamics and culture. What happened was something like this: Chris discovered that one board of directors had stolen 60 percent . . .

A Writer Writes It’s Our Planet and We Can Do With It What We Want by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) • The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. Industrial waste and chemical products utilized in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bioaccumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low. Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected. — Pope Francis’ Encyclical, “Laudato Si — On the Care Of Our Common Home” Hey, it’s our planet and we can do with it what we want. After all, Genesis grants mankind “dominion” over the earth. That’s dominion, as in control, supreme authority, dominance. So what is there about . . .

The winner of the 2015 Peace Corps Writers Publisher’s Special Award for the book published in 2014 is — Murder In Benin: Kate Puzey’s Death in the Peace Corps by Aaron Kase (Burkina Faso 2006-08) • Aaron talks about himself, his Peace Corps service, and his writing about the Kate Puzey murder. I grew up in Philadelphia, then received a degree in history at Grinnell College in Iowa. After college, I worked at a generic office job and wasn’t thrilled about the career trajectory it offered, so I decided to join the Peace Corps because it offered a challenge, and an adventure. I saw it as a unique opportunity to experience a life totally different from what I had known. I was a Small Business Volunteer in Burkina Faso from 2006 to 2008, and worked in a rural village called Zogore. My primary project was to encourage agroforestry and combat desertification, . . .

Today we are happy to begin announcing the 2015 Peace Corps Writers Awards for books published during 2014. This year we have eight awards, and each winning author (or photographer) will receive a certificate and a monetary gift. • The winner of the 2015 Peace Corps Writers Award for Best Book of Photography published in 2014 is — Timeless Photography of Rowland Scherman (PC Staff 1961-64) . In the introduction in this, his book of photos  from the 1960s and ’70s, Rowland Scherman writes: Like so many others, I was thrilled by JFK’S inaugural speech . . .. JFK’s words made me think that I could be something more, could reach a higher potential, if I volunteered my work and myself for the betterment of my country, instead of simply chasing a buck. Yes, I thought my services just might somehow be useful to the new administration. I found out whom . . .

A Writer Writes Imagined Lives: A Hollywood Fable by Gerald Karey (Turkey 1965–67) • I was a star. Nope, bigger than that. A STAR. Bigger. A SUPER STAR. You got it. I was BIG. I wasn’t just an a-lister. I was an A-LISTER. If I was at a party, it became an A-LIST PARTY. I was on every red carpet. Fans would scream my name when I emerged from my limo with two, maybe three, gorgeous women — every man’s fantasy — at my side. Every man’s fantasy, my reality. Women threw themselves at me — beautiful, sexy, surgically enhanced, if necessary, beyond perfection, women. I could have any woman I wanted. Every man’s fantasy, my everyday reality. Women wanted nothing more than to be with me, to be seen with me, to warm my bed, to stroke my ego. We didn’t talk much. We had sex, tanned by the . . .