Peace Corps Book wins Award from Independent Publisher Organization

The 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards were announced yesterday and One Hand Does Not Catch a Buffalo: 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories, edited by Aaron Barlow (Togo 1988-90), won the Silver Award in the Travel Division.  This is the first of four books edited under the direction of  Jane Albritton (India 1967-69) and published by Travers’ Tales, an imprint of Solas House.

In 2007, Albritton initiated a project to collect Peace Corps stories in four volumes to publish this year on the 50^th Anniversary. At that time, she named the project Peace Corps at 50 (www.peacecorpsat50.org). Jane and three other editors collected and edited these books over the last four years. Two of the books in the series-One Hand Does Not Catch a Buffalo: Africa,  and Gather the Fruit One by One: The Americas, are now available. The next two volumes-A Small Key Opens Big Doors: The Heart of Eusia, and Even the Smallest Crab Has Teeth: Asia and the Pacific, will be out this summer to coincide with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. 

These four books represent the work of 200 writers, telling their stories from the field. Light and dark, together the stories in each volume offer a fair representation of the Peace Corps experience.

This is the 15^th year of the Independent Publisher Book Awards. And the first time, I believe, that an RPCV has been recognized by this writing organization. The medalists will be honored at a gala awards ceremony in New York on May 23, 2011.

Congratulation Jane and Aaron for the first of many awards, I’m sure, your series will receive.