Peace Corps writers

The Gawker Guide to Fall Books has selected Mule: A Novel of Moving Weight by Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02; Madagascar 2002-03)  as one of their top fall books. The book is being published this month. Gawker writes: What It Is: The recession leads a young California couple with a baby on the way to turn to cross-country marijuana-running in order to make some quick cash. On the trip from Cali to Florida (which has a marijuana shortage?) a kidnapping, a shootout, and other business risks occur. Themes: America is broken, danger, risk, “zeitgeist-capturing.” Should You Bother?: Yes, because this book shows how “respectable” people can and do turn to crime in times of desperation. Buy it for your relative who blames drug dealing on the Poors.

Red White Black and Blue (A Donald Strachey Mystery) by Richard Stevenson (i.e. Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962–64) Albion, NY: MLR Press $14.99 (paperback) 236 pages June 2011 Reviewed by  Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963–65) CREATE A PLOT focused around an upcoming state election, party politics and brinksmanship including some convoluted candidate-must-win-at-all-costs skullduggery, toss in a highly motivated gay P.I. who is not averse to taking risks to life and limb, place it all in the hands of a skilled novelist, and what you get is very readable, fast paced detective story with overtones of social consciousness and contemporary political gamesmanship complete with Tea Party operatives and a lot of New York state politics (some of it invented, with apologies from the author). Donald Strachey is a private investigator in the employ of a Democratic operative bent on getting the goods on his Tea-Party-supported Republican opponent. The choice of Strachey for the job . . .

Fiesta of Sunset: The Peace Corps, Guatemala, and a Search for Truth By Taylor Dibbert (Guatemala 2006–08) 192 Pages iUniverse July 2011 Reviewed by P. David Searles (CD Philippines 1971-74 & Regional Director NANEAP 1974–76) TAYLOR HAS DONE A GREAT FAVOR for people like me whose real knowledge of the lives Peace Corps Volunteers lead is based on what took place decades ago, and for those considering Peace Corps service as the next step in their lives. Dibbert served in Guatemala from 2006 to 2008 as a member of an Appropriate Technology group concentrating on bringing potable water to the poorest of the poor in rural Guatemala. Fortunately for us, he faithfully kept a journal of his time in-country and has now published a judiciously edited version of it in his book, Fiesta of Sunset. Dibbert tells his story with honesty, clarity, some humor, and always with a deeply felt . . .

Kinky for Perry Rick Perry has never lost an election; I’ve never won one. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with the world. On the other hand, I’ve long been friends with Bill Clinton and George W., and Rick Perry and I, though at times bitter adversaries, have remained friends as well. It’s not always easy to maintain friendships with politicians. To paraphrase Charles Lamb, you have to work at it like some men toil after virtue. I have been quoted as saying that when I die, I am to be cremated, and the ashes are to be thrown in Rick Perry’s hair. Yet, simply put, Rick Perry and I are incapable of resisting each other’s charm. He is not only a good sport, he is a good, kindhearted man, and he once sat in on drums with ZZ Top. A guy like that can’t be all bad. When I ran for . . .

The opening of The Lower River, the next novel by Paul Theroux (Malawi 1963-65), is coming out in the Spring, 2012. It begins: Even in his best days in Medford, running the family clothing store, Altman had always imagined that he would return to Africa, to the Lower River. It had been his Eden, for those four years he had spent in a village called Malabo as a young man. Now, after nearly forty years, he was on his way back. The decades in between seemed almost a digression: the business, the marriage, the children. Altman’s Store for Men had closed, the marriage had failed, Altman’s children were grown, absent, living their lives. A little over sixty, he was alone again. He had enough money to see him into his old age, yet he wanted more than that. No one needed him in Medford, and he wondered if the people of . . .

Gather The Fruit One By One: 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories:Volume Two, The Americas Edited by Pat Alter (Paraguay 1970–1972) and Bernie Alter (India 1967–1969) Series editor Jane Albritton (India 1967–69) Travelers’ Tales May 2011 314 pages $18.95 Reviewed by Dan Close (Ethiopia 1966–68) GATHER THE FRUIT ONE BY ONE: 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories: Volume Two, The Americas is the second in the series of four books of essays by Peace Corps Volunteers collected by Jane Albritton and her editors. The remaining volumes cover Africa, Eurasia, and Asia and the Pacific. I met a traveler from a far-off land who said, “Here’s a story for you! Here’s a great story for you. And it’s true. I know, because it happened to me.” Actually, here are forty-six extraordinary tales of life lived in the Americas outside of America. Some are old; some are new. They are . . .

By John Valeri, Hartford Books Examiner Arsenault is the author of two novels, and will be appearing at R.J. Julia on Thursday evening.   Her literary debut, The Broken Teaglass, was selected by the New York Times as a Notable Crime Book of 2009.  In addition to her forays into fiction, she has worked as a lexicographer, an English teacher, and a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa.  Though Arsenault now lives in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, she grew up in Connecticut. Her newest, In Search of the Rose Notes (William Morrow, $14.99), was released last month.  Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review and noted it to be “an emotionally complex and deeply satisfying read.”  Meanwhile, fellow author Alafair Burke praised, “Feels like a beautifully written secret, whispered into the reader’s ear…This is a smart, creative, and utterly charming novel.” Eleven-year-olds Nora and Charlotte were best friends. When their teenage . . .

The Peace Corps Writers Next on: Next Monday, 11:00 on BBC Radio 4 Synopsis President John F Kennedy sent out an ‘army’ of everyday US citizens to every corner of the globe – the Peace Corps. His big idea was to counter the idea of the ‘ugly American’ and in some way stem the spread of communism. Bridget Kendall goes to the United States to meet former Peace Corps volunteers and evaluate their role as America’s ‘missionaries of democracy’. And to hear, in their own words, their incredible tales. Up to a point, JFK’s concept was to fill skills and training gaps in developing countries, similar UK’s VSO (Volunteer Services Overseas). Beyond that was an explicit mission to open America up to the world, to learn about foreign peoples and customs, and bring that knowledge back to out-of-touch Americans. After 50 years, 200,000 volunteers have returned home from far-flung regions . . .

[Books published in 2010 and Nominated for the Peace Corps Writers Award] Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award Faith, Interrupted: A Spiritual Journey by Eric Lax (Micronesia 1966-68) Henry Walters and Bernard Berenson: Collector and Connoisseur by Stanley Mazaroff (Philippines 1961-63) The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick by Gene Stone (Niger 1974-76) Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries Are Leading the Way by Steven Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83) Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell (Uzbekistan 1996-97) Lyndon B. Johnson by Charles Peters (PC/Staff 1961-63) Thoreau the Land Surveyor by Patrick Chura (Lithuania 1992-94) Maria Thomas Fiction Award Last Train From Cuernavaca by Lucia St. Clair Robson (Venezuela 1964-66) Green Pearl Odyssey by Reilly Ridgell (Micronesia 1971-73) The Plum Rains and Other Stories by John Givens (Korea 1967-69)  Cold Snap: Bulgaria Stories by Cynthia Morrison Phoel (Bulgaria 1994-96)  Gloryland by Shelton Johnson (Liberia 1982-84)  A Dead Hand: A Crime . . .

In an earlier blog I told you about Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02; Madagascar 2002-03)  new novel, Mule, that is being published in September. Here’s how his publisher Houghton Mifflin is promoting it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMa0jOijtx4  

Tarnished Ivory: Reflections on Peace Corps and Beyond by Peter Bourque (Ivory Coast (1973–75) Xlibris 224 pages $19.99 2011 Reviewed by P. David Searles (PC staff/Philippines CD 1971–74; PC Dep Dir 1974–76) TARNISHED IVORY REALLY HAS TWO AUTHORS — one is twenty-something-year-old Peter Bourque, who provides the main text, and the other is sixty-year-old Peter Bourque, who provides editing and commentary. That would be a more accurate description of who wrote what in this fascinating look at Peace Corps service in Ivory Coast in the 1970s.  During his service in Ivory Coast Bourque kept a journal and a diary and also wrote “hundreds of pages” (his count) to friends and family in the U.S., especially to a “significant other” back at the University of Michigan. Thirty-five years later the now older, more mature, and wiser Bourque has edited this material, made interesting and revealing comments on it, and provided some . . .

In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault (South Africa 2004–06) William Morrow $14.95 369 pages July 2011 • Girls of the Factory: A Year with the Garment Workers of Fes by M. Laetitia Cairoli (Morocco 1985–87) University Press of Florida 256 pages $60.00 March 2011 • Colombia: Pictures & Stories by Sandy Fisher (Colombia 1962–64) Self-published $60.00 (signed) TheMarket@brookviewfarm.com 212 pages January 2011 • The African American Odyssey of John Kizell: A South Carolina Slave Returns to Fight the Slave Trade in His African Homeland by Kevin G. Lowther (Sierra Leone 1963–65) University of Southern Carolina Press $39.95 336 pages May 2011 • Stirring the Pot: A History of African Cuisine by James C. McCann (Ethiopia 1973–75) Ohio University Press 240 pages $26.95 2009 • Bread from the Sky by Maria McCarthy (Togo 1996–98) Amazon Digital Services $4.99 Kindle January 2011 • InGear: Peace Corps & Beyond by . . .

Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02; Madagascar 2002-03)  has contributed to The New Yorker, Playboy, Esquire, Outside, Salon, Granta, McSweeny’s and other magazines. He is a recipient of the Sue Kaufman Prize, the O. Henry Award, the Florida Book Awards gold and silver medals for fiction, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His novel The Konkans, was a Best Book of the Year in Washington Post Book World, Christian Science Monitor and Publishers Weekly. Tony was nominated for a National Magazine Award for coverage of Nicaragua’s Eric Volz murder trial, all after he spent three years in Africa. He lives now in St. Louis with his wife, a graduate student in creative writing, and their two young children. In September Mule: A Novel of Moving Weight, Tony’s third novel, will be published by Houghton Mifflin. It is a story of a young couple hard hit by . . .

Emily Arsenault (South Africa 2004-06) first novel, The Broken Teaglass, was selected by The New York Times as a Notable Crime Book of 2009. She has now just published In Search of the Rose Notes, a psychological mystery about broken friendship and the unease of revisiting adolescent memories. Emily writes, “My initial intention was to write a suspense novel that dealt with some of the darker aspects of adolescence. I wanted to write about a female character in her twenties who, while relatively content as an adult, had a difficult adolescence that she still struggles to understand. I started with that character–Nora–and built the other aspects of the book (the friendship with Charlotte, Rose’s disappearance, the Time-Life books) around her.” Before the Peace Corps and South Africa, Emily  worked as a lexicographer and an English teacher. While she grew up in Connecticut, today she lives with her husband, who served with her in . . .