THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 33 The Foreign Service Journal is pleased to present our 25th annual Foreign Service authors roundup. With “In Their Own Write,” we celebrate the wealth of literary talent within the Foreign Service community and give our readers the opportunity to support their storytelling colleagues (in time for holiday shopping). Many of these titles are excellent resources for anyone contemplating a career in international affairs. You can also find biographies, books on history and foreign policy, memoirs, works of fiction, young adult books, and more. All were written, edited, translated, and even narrated by Foreign Service personnel and their family members. Additionally, we offer a selection of recent books “of related interest” to diplomats and their families that were not written by FS authors (see page 42). As always, we rely on the authors themselves to bring their books to our attention. If your recent book is not listed here or you have one forthcoming, please let us know, and we can add it to next year’s collection—for more information, email InTheirOwnWrite@afsa.org. Note: Inclusion of a book in this collection does not imply endorsement by AFSA or the FSJ. AFSA welcomes the opportunity to share the news of books published by members of the FS community but does not vouch for the contents of the books. —The Editors MEMOIRS Letters from Dorothy: Adventures in the U.S. Foreign Service Dorothy Marita Forrant Blackledge, ed. Michael A. Blackledge, Blackledge Books, 2025, $37.99/ hardcover, print only, 224 pages. Dorothy Forrant was a recent high school graduate and skilled typist from Massachusetts when she joined the U.S. diplomatic team in 1928 for the Sixth International Conference of American States in Havana. As her Foreign Service career unfolded across the globe, with postings in Buenos Aires, Tokyo, and Beijing (then Peking), she sent numerous letters home. Those letters and photos make up this 224-page memoir, which offers a unique window into Depression-era challenges as well as her own personal triumphs. The 70-plus original letters that form the core of this memoir have been formally archived by the Massachusetts Historical Society, which established the Dorothy Forrant Blackledge Collection for her personal correspondence and artifacts. Additionally, the Young Men’s Library Association in Ware, Massachusetts, has created a Dorothy Forrant Collection to preserve further materials related to her life and legacy. Dorothy Marita Forrant Blackledge was a secretary in the Foreign Service from 1927 to 1934. Her son, Michael Blackledge, compiled this memoir. In Their Own Write MARIA CARLUCCIO/THE I SPOT FOCUS
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