Peace Corps Fund sponsors second RPCV Writers’ Workshop

Apr 08 2022

Thursday, September 15 to Sunday the 18th on Broad Creek in Maryland

Want to spend three days in September on the Eastern Shore of Maryland discussing your Peace Corps memoir, fiction, or non-fiction with other RPCV writers and published authors? Peace Corps Writers, with support from the Peace Corps Fund, is arranging its second workshop for ten to fifteen RPCVs and former Peace Corps staff working on their own Peace Corps or related creative works.

Founded in 2003, the Peace Corps Fund is a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization founded by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers to support the Third Goal of the Peace Corps — to increase the understanding of the people served on the part of Americans.

The workshop will be held at Shore Retreats on Broad Creek, on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Costs range from $100 for those on tight budgets, $250 for those of modest means, and $500 for those who can afford it. The retreat facility includes shared living quarters, meals and snacks.

Our second RPCV Writers Conference is intended to promote and share written work that reflects on our Peace Corps experiences.

The writing program will include lectures and readings by the all-RPCV faculty, readings by all participants, reviews of manuscripts by the faculty, individual conferences, class discussions on literary techniques, and time for conversations and relaxation.

Those attending the Workshop need to submit the first 20 pages of their non-fiction manuscript, novels or short story before September 1^st to be reviewed by the faculty and other participants.

Space is limited.

If you are interested in attending please contact RPCV Writers Workshop director John Coyne at jcoyneone@gmail.com, or secretary : Matt Losak (Lesotho 1985-88)
301-588-3987 tokamaphepa@aol.com

This second Peace Corps Writer’s Workshop will be directed by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991-93)

Mark Brazaitis

Mark is the author of eight books, including The River of Lost Voices: Stories from Guatemala, winner of the 1998 Iowa Short Fiction Award; The Incurables: Stories, winner of the 2012 Richard Sullivan Prize and the 2013 Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Prose; and Julia & Rodrigo, winner of the 2012 Gival Press Novel Award. His latest book, The Rink Girl: Stories, won the 2018 Prize Americana (Hollywood Books). He wrote the script for the award-winning Peace Corps film How Far Are You Willing to Go to Make a Difference?

He is a professor of English, the director of the Creative Writing Program, and the director of the West Virginia Writers’ Workshop at West Virginia University.