First Official Event of the 50th Peace Corps Anniversary and Celebration for Peace Corps Writers
Thanx for doing this John. How can we find out if we have been included in the invitation list? Looking…
DURING THE WEEKEND CELEBRATION of Peace Corps’ 50th Anniversary, September 22-25, the Library of Congress will honor Peace Corps writers – both Volunteers and staff – who have published books about their Peace Corps experience with a display of their books of poetry, fiction, memoirs, and photography. Each book (whether academic, commercial or self-published but must have an ISBN number) will then become part of a new permanent Peace Corps Collection of the Library of Congress. In addition, the Library will establish a link from their web site to the Bibliography of Peace Corps Writers created by Marian Haley Beil (Ethiopia 1962-64), publisher of Peace Corps Worldwide.
To celebrate this special occasion, a luncheon will be held on Thursday, September 22, in the Library hosted by Congressman John Garamendi (Ethiopia 1965-67) and his wife, Patricia (Ethiopia 1965-67).
Co-hosts for the luncheon, with Patricia and John Garamendi, will be Marian Haley Beil, publisher of Peace Corps Worldwide and Maureen Orth (Colombia 1964-66) Special Correspondent to Vanity Fair. The master of ceremonies will be Chris Matthews (Swaziland 1968-70), host of Hardball on MSNBC.
Attendance for the luncheon is limited to Peace Corps writers whose books about the Peace Corps will become part of the Library’s Peace Corps Collection, and specially invited long-time supporters of the Peace Corps Writers newsletter and website.
In this regard, I want to give a ‘shout out’ to Larry Lihosit (Honduras 1975-77) who has been campaigning for a Peace Corps Collection at the Library of Congress for the last half dozen years.
More details are forthcoming, but those writers among us who have published books about their Peace Corps experience should prepare to travel to Washington, D.C. in September, and be part of the first official event of the 50th Peace Corps Anniversary and Celebration.
Congratulations, everyone! Our time has come!
Thank you for all your work, John. Also, thank you to Congressman Garamendi, Marian & Maureen for their generousity.
Fantastic! Congratulations on finally getting this accomplished. It’s not easy passing an “Act of Congress!” At least now our words will be preserved.
Wonderful idea — both luncheon and especially a collection at the Library of Congress. Thanks to all who have worked to make this possible.
Very good news, John. And congratulations to RPCV writer and activist Lorenzo Lihosit! Great job!!
Bravo, Lorenzo! You, too, John. I’ll be there! How do we sign up? This sounds like so much fun.
Congratulations John and abrazos to you, Marien, Maureen and Congressman Garamendi for making this all come together.
John and Marian,
This is great news! And all due to your efforts , primarily, in keeping the writers network going. You’ve done so much for so many writers. Kudos)
My book, Roller Skating in the Desert, was accepted by the Kennedy Collection/Library of Congress a few years ago. I wonder if we should send new copies to the organizer.
Leita Kaldi Davis
Sounds wonderful. Keep us posted on the details. Thanks to everyone who made this happen.
Barry Kitterman
What are they going to serve? 😉
Tony
Thanx for doing this John. How can we find out if we have been included in the invitation list? Looking forward to the entire weekend–but this luncheon will be a highlight for me.
Leslie Mass