RPCV Mark Walker Wins Honorable Mention With Peace Corps Memoir (Guatemala)

Arizona Authors’ is one of the longest established non-profit writers’ organizations in the Southwest. Since 1978, it has served as an information and referral center for the literary and arts community.

Internationally renowned, the Association sponsors an annual Literary Contest including both published and unpublished categories. The awards ceremony coincides with the yearly publication of the Arizona Literary Magazine.

This year Mark Walker’s Different Latitudes, published by Peace Corps Writers), received an “Honorable Mention.” It was one of  72 entries in this annual award.

Mark Walker Guatemala 1971-1973

Summer, 1971. A naive young man must decide his path upon graduation from a small university in Colorado. Amidst the turmoil of the counterculture years and the looming possibility of being sent to Vietnam, he concludes that he wants to travel, serve, and, if possible, save the world. As a Peace Corps volunteer Mark embarks on a vigorous cross-cultural experience in the Caribbean and two Central American countries, with a final stop in one of the more isolated areas of the highlands of Guatemala. Though beset with a fear of the unknown and feelings of profound isolation due to being the only volunteer in a remote village, he eventually gets to know and appreciate the people of the rural communities he is privileged to live among.