Winners Of Peace Corps Writers 2009 Books Awards

Publisher Marian Haley Beil (Ethiopia 1962–64) and I are pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Peace Corps Writers Awards for books published during 2008. We have added two new awards to the six we have given in the past — one for Best Peace Corps Memoir, and one for Best Book of Photography. The winning books and authors are:

• Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award
  The Last Days of Old Beijing
  Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed
  By Michael Meyer (China 1995-97)
  Walker & Company
  
• Maria Thomas Fiction Award
  The Baker’s Boy
  By Barry Kitterman (Belize 1975–77)
  Southern Methodist University Press
  
• Award for Best Travel Writing
  Travel Wise
  How to Be Safe, Savvy and Secure Abroad
  By Ray Leki (Nepal 1979-80; Staff: 1988–90; Pakistan 1990)
  Intercultural Press
  
• Award for Best Poetry Book
  The Book of Sleep
  By Eleanor Stanford (Cape Verde 1998–2000)
  Carnegie Mellon Press
  
• Award for Best Children’s Writing
  The Butter Man
  By Elizabeth Letts Alalou (Morocco 1983–86) and Ali Alalou
  Charlesbridge Publishing
  
• Award for Best Peace Corp Memoir
  Triumph & Hope
  GoldenYears With The Peace Corps in Hondureas
  Barbara E. Joe (Honduras 2000–03)
  BookSurge
  
• Award for Best Book of Photography
  Drokpa
  Nomads of the Tibetan Plateau and Himalaya
  Daniel J. Miller (Nepal 1974–78)
  Kathmandu, Nepal: Vajra Publications
  
• Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award
  Kitchen Diplomacy
  by Kristin Ruger (Kazahkstan 2005–07)

Each winner receives a special citation and a cash award from Peace Corps Writers — a blog of Peace Corps Worldwide. Our congratulations to all the winners, and all the RPCVs who published books in 2008.

Click on either the cover or the title of any of these award-winning books to purchase it at Amazon.com.