Search Results For -2009 books

Nautilus Book Awards has recognized The Power of Latino Leadership by author Juana Bordas with this prestigious award in the area of Multicultural/Indigenous Literature. The Nautilus Book Awards is an annual accolade of books in the genre of social and economic equality. The award recognizes “Better books for a better world.” Established in the U.S. in 1998, Nautilus is considered a “major” book award There are over 50 million Latinos in the US and it is estimated that by 2050 one in three of the US population will be Latino. While many people may know about the history and contributions of Latinos, there is scant information on the powerful way Latinos have led their community. Yet, Latinos have only advanced to where they are today because of their leaders and collective efforts. A long-time Latina leader, Bordas is a founder of Denver’s Mi Casa Resource Center and was the first President . . .

How to Write a Novel in 100 Days: With Tips about Agents, Editors, Publishers and Self-Publishing by John Coyne (Ethiopia 1962–64). A Peace Corps Writers Book $12.39 (paperback), $6.00 (Kindle) 238 pages 2013 Reviewed by Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963-65) John Coyne knows how to write books. He has published 25 of them, including novels, nonfiction, collections, guide books and others. Several of his novels are award-winners and best-sellers, on sports, historical fiction, mystery, horror and romance. He’s a writing teacher and mentor, and keeps us all up to date on what PCVs and RPCVs are publishing here at peacecorpsworldwide.org/pc-writers. You can read more at johncoynebooks.com. In short, he’s well qualified to write a book about writing a book, and more than one writer will wish they’d had How to Write a Novel in 100 Days before they started their latest masterpiece. Ideally, to review his insightful and informative how-to book, . . .

  Letters From Alfonso: Learning to Listen By Earl Kessler (Colombia 1965-68) Terra Nova Books, Santa Fe, New Mexico $13.04 (paperback), $4.99 (Kindle) 245 pages October, 2013 Reviewed by Bob Arias (Colombia 1964-66) • Earl was a third year Peace Corps Volunteer, with energy to make changes in the world and in his life. A basic Community Development Volunteer, he was first assigned to the Colombian Department of Huila were the Violencia was in full swing. Letters from Alfonso does not cover much about his first two years, though the experience comes with him when he is assigned to a new community near Cartagena on the north coast of Colombia. He tells us that as a Community Development Volunteer he knew better to wait and get to know the community, to listen. He makes a point that most NGO’s (Non-Governmental  Organizations) and Multi National agencies fail to see and understand…listen . . .

The Glory of the Kings By Dan Close (Ethiopia 1965-67) Tamarac Press $19.95 (paperback) 401 pages 2013 Reviewed by Phillip LeBel (Ethiopia 1965-67) Even if one has never been to Ethiopia, one can learn much by reading Dan Close’s historical novel, The Glory of the Kings.  For those who have, much could still be learned by his careful weaving together of various sources to give us a vivid picture of how Adwa was so important to Ethiopia’s future and a key to understanding the present dynamics of society in the Horn of Africa. Author of several previous books [1], Dan Close has put his knowledge of the 1896 Battle of Adwa into a compelling fictional narrative.  Drawing on Ethiopia’s official history, the Kebra Negast, from which the title of his book is derived, he weaves together many known details of the battle with characters drawn from his personal experience in . . .

Every week I can receive as many as 4 new books written by RPCVs to be reviewed and added to Marian Haley Beil’s list of books by Peace Corps Volunteers and Staff.  Most of these books are self-published, and increasingly they are ambitious and impressive. The book I received yesterday in the mail tops them all! It is is entitled, Somehow: Living on Uganda Time Essays and Photographs by Douglas Cruickshank (Uganda 2009-12). The book is 420 pages long, sells for $60.00, and is 9″ X 12″ in size. It gave my postman a hernia, delivering it! The book is the creation of Doug Cruickshank who joined the Peace Corps when he was 56 and went to Uganda to help develop a coffee business in a village called Kyarumba in the Rwenzori Mountains. With a career as a writer-photographer behind him, Doug began to write and take photographs within days . . .

Bubba: The African Adventures of James Johnson by William G. Spain (Malawi 1966–68) ZIWA Books $25.00 (paperback) 400 pages 2013 Reviewed by Walter Morris Baker, Ph.D. (Ethiopia 1966-68) Reading novels for pleasure is not a usual practice for me. Since leaving Peace Corps service almost fifty years ago, my reading has been primarily directed toward reading professional articles and books related to my career as a Psychologist and government regulations related to other occupational activities. For that reason, my reading is usually conducted very slowly in search of details and nuances. With that in mind, I accepted the task of reading Bubba: A Novel for the purpose of writing a review. “This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.” It is a . . .

Dr. Jon Thiem has lived in Colorado for the last 35 years. He is professor emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Colorado State University. It was through his Peace Corps service that he discovered his vocation as a teacher, translator, and scholar of literature. His numerous publications include Lorenzo de’ Medici: Selected Poems and Prose (1991) and Rabbit Creek Country: Three Ranching Lives in the Heart of the Mountain West (2008), written in collaboration with his colleague Deborah Dimon. Rabbit Creek Country was a Finalist for the Colorado Book Award in 2009. Several years back he mentioned to a young woman (with a Ph.D.) that in the late 1960s he had served with the Peace Corps in Ghana, West Africa. She thought he was referring to a United Nations Peace Keeping operation! The incident inspired him to compile this collection of letters. The body of letters are from August . . .

Joshua Berman (Nicaragua 1998-2000) is a freelance writer, Spanish teacher, and dad, based in Boulder, Colorado. He is the author of four Avalon Travel guidebooks; his articles have appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, Yoga Journal, and National Geographic Traveler; and he has a monthly column in the Denver Post. Josh also won the Peace Corps Writers Book Award for his travel book on Nicaragua in 2006. He is married to an RPCV, Sutay Kunda Berman (Gambia 1996-98). His first narrative travel book, Crocodile Love, is a collection of tales from his honeymoon to Pakistan, India, Ghana, and The Gambia. In 2005, the married couple quit everything and flew to Pakistan to begin an open-ended trip together. They didn’t need wedding gifts, they needed shared experiences, preferably toilsome, scary, and rewarding ones in strange, faraway places. Crocodile Love: Tales From An Extended Honeymoon is the story of that journey. . . .

Jurors for the $50,000 St. Francis College Literary Prize have narrowed the more than 170 submissions down to a short list of five novels competing for the biannual award, one of the richest in the United States. The books and authors are: Carry the One (Simon & Schuster), by Carol Anshaw The Middlesteins (Grand Central Publishing), by Jami Attenberg Mule (Mariner Books), by Tony D’Souza (Ivory Coast 2000-02, Madagascar 2002-03) The Right-Hand Shore (Picador), by Christopher Tilghman Dirt (Harper Perennial), by David Vann The winner will be announced at the opening gala for the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 21. “It’s a prize that has no parallel really among existing literary prizes and comes at a perfect time in a writer’s career,” said Jonathan Dee, a member of the jury and winner of the second Literary Prize for his novel, The Privileges. “There’s a lot of attention when you make your debut. . . .

To Know the Rainforest (Peace Corps Novel) by Paul Mathes (Colombia 1964–66) iUniverse $18.95 (paperback); $22.00 (hardcover); $3.99 (Kindle) 309 pages 2012 Reviewed by Dennis Grubb (Colombia 1961-63) “This was life. This is why he joined the Peace Corps .The could be danger ahead, but the possibility was what made it interesting …..Maybe I am no longer the kid I used to be. Maybe I am becoming a different person ….But what would the Peace Corps brass think about all this-if I they ever found out. No matter, he told himself. I am here to help Colombians; that’s what I am doing.”Colombian settings in books written by former Peace Corps Volunteers, or RPCVs as we are known are few and far between. Paul Mathes, an RPCV , Colombia 1964-66, self-published  “To Know the Rainforest”,  is an action /adventure novel  incorporating  the three well-worn  Latin America and Colombia themes: poverty, land and . . .