Today's the day 20 years ago that two score optimistic & good-willed Americans gathered at the 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, to begin the most excellent adventure I know, a blend of humanitarian endeavor, mutual group support, and self-reliance in the face of a great unknown. We were to spend the next 27 months as Peace Corps Volunteers in … Continue reading 20 Years On: Peace Corps & Writing
RPCV
Peace Corps Writer’s Crime Debut
Congrats to fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Chris Orlet (Poland, 1992-94), who's debut novel In the Pines came out this month from New Pulp Press. New Pulp is home to many other fine noir and crime writers like Mark Richardson (see my review of Hunt for the Troll--2015). NPP released my neo-noir satire, Two Pumps for the Body Man, this … Continue reading Peace Corps Writer’s Crime Debut
MFA Program for RPCVs and PCVs
Reposting this opportunity for the Peace Corps community to earn an MFA. Original content from Peace Corps Worldwide: Are you inspired by your Peace Corps service? Do you have an affinity for writing? Looking to write a memoir or book about your Peace Corps experience? John Coyne (RPCV Ethiopia 1962-64), editor of Peace Corps Worldwide, has … Continue reading MFA Program for RPCVs and PCVs
Peace Corps Writer Awards 2014
Vote for your favorite Peace Corps Book of 2014. People in the Peace Corps community know well the agency's three goals: To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served To promote a better … Continue reading Peace Corps Writer Awards 2014
Peace Corps Retrospective
A compilation of posts recalling my Peace Corps service in Malawi (1996-1998). Crossing Paths with Paul Theroux in Malawi I’ve always felt a strong connection Paul Theroux, due largely to our shared legacy as Peace Corps Volunteers in Malawi. When I expressed reluctance about taking an assignment teaching English there in the 90s, the recruiter suggested I read My Secret … Continue reading Peace Corps Retrospective
CURRY PATTA, JUNGLE OATS, AND PEACE CORPS
My wife keeps a curry plant to flavor her beautiful Indian cooking. Our boys have taken to snapping off the greenest leaves and eating them raw. Their chewing fills the air with a sharp, fresh scent. Yesterday, the plant was brought indoors—frost—to spend the night on our low kitchen table. When the boys found it … Continue reading CURRY PATTA, JUNGLE OATS, AND PEACE CORPS
CURRY PATTA, JUNGLE OATS, AND PEACE CORPS
My wife keeps a curry plant to flavor her beautiful Indian cooking. Our boys have taken to snapping off the greenest leaves and eating them raw. Their chewing fills the air with a sharp, fresh scent. Yesterday, the plant was brought indoors—frost—to spend the night on our low kitchen table. When the boys found it … Continue reading CURRY PATTA, JUNGLE OATS, AND PEACE CORPS
Shortlisted for International Book Prize
The Dundee International Book Prize announced their short list for 2014. Sea Never Dry, my novel about dirty cops and drug trafficking in West Africa, made the list. Thick with spies and fetish priests, Internet fraudsters and the Ghanaian orphans turning a buck on Accra’s e-waste ash heaps, Sea Never Dry centers on the conflict between Western development efforts and … Continue reading Shortlisted for International Book Prize
GREEN
When the Peace Corps recruiter called to offer Pete Seward a position teaching English in Malawi Seward asked, “Where’s that?” “Africa.” Seward thought about that. Where the application had asked for geographical preferences, Seward had written: “Anywhere in the Pacific. Definitely not Africa.” So he reminded the recruiter of this. “I do see that. But, … Continue reading GREEN
Review (Niger) – A Dry and Thirsty Land
A Dry and Thirsty Land: The Misadventures of a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa - by Bryant Wieneke (Niger 1974–76) Mr. Wieneke’s engaging 60,000-word memoir contains all the stuff of Peace Corps legend, from encounters with exotic insects and large snakes to bouts of diarrhea and Malarial fever. It also contains a large dose of the question: … Continue reading Review (Niger) – A Dry and Thirsty Land
Ben East Books 