March 2011 - Over 50 And Overseas

Bonnie Lee Black Interview

Bonnie Lee Black decided to join the Peace Corps at the age of 50 in 1995. In 1996 she was posted to Gabon in Central Africa as a health and nutrition volunteer. Bonnie was a caterer and food writer in New York prior to her Peace Corps service. Bonnie’s engrossing and practical memoir of her experiences in Gabon, How to Cook a Crocodile: A Memoir with Recipes , was recently published by the new imprint, Peace Corps Writers.

Bonnie Lee Black is a graduate of Columbia University and has an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles. She currently teaches English and creative nonfiction writing at the University of New Mexico in Taos.

John Dwyer of Over50andOverseas.com recently interviewed Bonnie and discussed her memoir.

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John: Your new book How to Cook a Crocodile is a fascinating literary travel narrative and, as described in the subtitle, A Memoir with Recipes. It is also an inspirational story of how to adapt and survive anywhere in the world. What inspired you to write the book?

Bonnie: Well, as a writer, I feel I must share my experiences the best way I know how, through the written word. Two classic books especially inspired the theme and structure of my How to Cook a Crocodile – M.F.K. Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf and Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa. I like to think of my new book as “the wild grandchild” of these two well known and well loved books by wonderful women writers.

John: Your book is about your two-year Peace Corps service as a health volunteer in Gabon, Central Africa, when you were in your early 50s. What made you join the Peace Corps at 50?

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