RPCV Writers in the best travel writing for 2010

Edited by Bill Buford The Best American Travel Writing 2010 published by Mariner came out in early September and I wanted to mention it now in the first day of 2011. Of the twenty-one essays, from three to sixty pages, we have three by RPCV writers.

Peter Hessler (China 1996-98), “Strange Stones” is from The New Yorker and as always beautifully-written and detailed. His new book about China, Country Driving  is reflected in this work. Our second writer in the collection is George Packer (Togo 1982-83). His story from The New Yorker is entitled, “The Ponzi State,” and is about the Florida housing boom and bust.

The third travel piece is Tom Bissell’s (Uzbekistan 1996-97), “Looking for Judas” that was published in the Virginia Quarterly Review and is about his off-the-beaten path in Jerusalem looking for THE spot where Judas killed himself, but mostly focuses on his impressions of well-armed Israelis and their heightened security awareness everywhere.

Also come out in September (and I wrote about this RPCV before) is Mohezin Tejani (Thailand 1978-80) piece called “Fruits of Childhood” that appeared in the collection: The Best Travel Writing 2010: True Stories from Around the World edited by James O’Reilly.

Not bad for one year of writings by RPCVs.

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  • That’s good news — RPCV writing being chosen from the best of travel writing for 2010. Surely, this merits an article in the book review section of a large-circulation national newspaper (NYTimes, WaPost, LATimes, or some other; or better yet – in a syndicated column) to brag a bit about RPCV writing prowess, especially given that this is the 50th anniversary year of the whole big PC adventure worldwide!

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