Peace Corps Writers imprint books

  The G-K Project  is chronological account of my personal experiences in choosing to serve in the Peace Corps, my selection, training and placement in the beginning years of 1960 to 1964 as the new institution evolved via trial and error and added depth to the term “flexibility.” It also includes an introduction to the highly populated Islamic nation of East Pakistan before its independence to become Bangladesh. For many years I have wanted to write about events that were special in my life but found it easier to work on my small ranch, travel, backpack, and enjoy my family and friends. Now, at age 81, COVID-19 has provided me an opportunity to sort through my journals, letters, records, mementos and try to summarize and explain their significance before dumping them. The Ganges-Kobadak (G-K) Project is a large-scale irrigation plan developed and implemented in cooperation with the United Nations. The . . .

    About NOT EXACTLY RETIRED: A Life-Changing Journey on the Road and in the Peace Corps by David Jarmul (Nepal 1977–79; Moldova 2016–18)  • Americans approaching retirement can redefine their lives and find new fulfillment by pursuing international adventure and service instead of drifting in their familiar jobs. That’s the message of Not Exactly Retired: A Life-Changing Journey on the Road and in the Peace Corps. Author David Jarmul is a widely published writer, world traveler and former head of news and communications at Duke University. He describes how he walked away from his job to travel with his wife across the United States and Nepal, and then serve together as Peace Corps Volunteers in Moldova, in Eastern Europe. Readers in more than 100 countries followed their journey on David’s popular blog Not Exactly Retired, and in news stories. Not Exactly Retired is a book for anyone seeking inspiration . . .

    David Mather, like many RPCVs, thought that his Peace Corps experience was one-of-a-kind and decided to write about it in novel format. He began writing One For The Road in 2006, and five years later it was published through Peace Corps Writers. It takes place in the foothills of the Andes of southern Chile where he was the most isolated Volunteer in his forestry program, and the novel could well be a primer for new Volunteers.  This literary effort, though, was an epiphany for David: he discovered that he enjoyed writing. A sequel,  When the Whistling Stopped, soon followed. After that, he began “The Crescent Beach Series,” three novels that take place in a fictitious backwater fishing village in the lawless Big Bend Area of Florida’s gulf coast. The Biloxi Connection is the third in the CB series and his fifth novel published through PCW. Mather’s isolated PC experience in . . .

  About FRONTIER CABIN STORY  The Rediscovered History of a West Virginia Log Farmhouse • Frontier Cabin Story is a rare architectural biography of a long-forgotten 18th-century log farmhouse in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. In the book, Joseph Goss (Afghanistan 1967–69) relates how he dug into the origins of his ancient home to discover its age and first owner. After months of painstaking detective work, he found the holy grail of his search. Along the way, the author creates an enthralling story about an unknown frontier house and gives it context by weaving it into the sweep of the region’s history from colonial times to the present. Colorful characters from the families of the house’s earliest owners populate the story and act on the stages of the French and Indian, Revolutionary, and the Civil Wars. They even take us out to the Osage Nation in Missouri and later to Mexico. The women, . . .

  With Kennedy in the Land of the Dead: A Novel of the 1960s By William Siegel (Ethiopia 1962-64) Peace Corps Writers 315 pages January 26, 2019 $20.00 (paperback), $9.99 (Kindle)   With Kennedy in the Land of the Dead begins on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Gilbert Stone, a Peace Corps volunteer teacher in Ethiopia returns home shattered and lost in the shadow of his hero. The intervening years tell the story of Stone’s struggle integrating his experience of the Peace Corps and the trauma of Kennedy’s death. His new life as a graduate student in San Francisco explodes into the 1960’s hippie movement. Stone finds himself losing his identity as a member of a commune, alienated from his former life and finally living on the streets of the Haight Ashbury. His battle with drugs, insanity and the anti-Vietnam war . . .

  When Catherine Onyemelukwe arrived in Nigeria in 1962 as an idealistic Peace Corps Volunteer, she had no idea of the country’s wealth of customs and traditions she would come to love. With her marriage to a Nigerian electrical engineer and senior manager in the country’s power industry, she became part of his family, clan, and village. She learned to speak the Igbo language and not only adapted to, but adopted, some of the customs of his people. In this intimate portrayal of family members, she reveals the secrets of the ties that bind her to her husband’s community. Through the striking accounts of his parents in their youth, and with nods to customs from other tribes and countries, she paints an unforgettable picture of African life in times past. Catherine evokes the atmosphere of the village market, the religious rituals, and the ceremonies that accompany life’s major events. The . . .

  MY PEACE CORPS EXPERIENCE in southern Chile was life-changing — it greatly influenced many of the decisions I made in later life. I also thought those two years, from 1968 to 1970, were unique and I knew that some day I would try to write about them. Meanwhile, returning to the States, I became a back-to-the-lander and built a cabin in the backwoods of New Hampshire where I basically cloned my life in Chile, living off-grid and over a mile from the nearest town-maintained road for over fifty years. When I mostly retired from the specialty wood company I started and built up over the years, I finally had the time to write. One For The Road took me five years and many rough manuscripts before it was finally published through Peace Corps Writers. Ostensibly a combination coming-of-age and love story, the book has been more aptly described by . . .