The Foreign Service Journal - November 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2017 9 To top off all that inspiration, we are hosting the AFSA Book Market Nov. 16 to bring together authors featured here with readers and future writers—you, per- haps? Please come by AFSA headquarters Nov. 16 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to meet the authors, browse and network, and gain insight on writing from literary agent and editor Deborah Grosvenor. In this month’s Speaking Out, FSO and Dean of the FSI School of Professional and Area Studies Michael Pelletier writes on “Owning Leadership,” suggesting that each member of the Foreign Service has opportunities to lead and to shape the Service in some way, large or small. Much like AFSA President Barbara Stephenson’s call to lead from where you are, Pelletier says it is time for all career members of the Foreign Service to step up and lead the way. Our feature this month raises the question of the relationship between foreign assistance and economic devel- opment. Thomas Dichter’s critique of the foreign aid “industry”—“When Criti- cism Falls on Deaf Ears: The Case of U.S. Foreign Aid”—is bound to ruffle a few feathers. We welcome your responses! Next month, look for selections from our new Diplomacy Works collection. Help us keep telling your story. Send your contributions to journal@afsa.org. Q LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The Writing Life BY SHAWN DORMAN T his month the Journal celebrates the achievements of our Foreign Service colleagues in the realm of writing and publishing, with our annual “InTheir Own Write” edition featuring 53 recently published books by members of the Foreign Service com- munity. We are not simply celebrating Foreign Service authors, even though that would have been enough. We also aim to inspire more FS writing, for it is through that writing that the story of the Foreign Service can get out. Many of the books featured in these pages take a direct look at Foreign Service work and life—nonfiction works like Harry Kopp and John Naland’s Career Diplomacy ; Jim Dobbins’ Five Decades on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy or Harriet Lee Elam-Thomas’ Diversifying Diplomacy. Others are indirect—Mark Wentling’s historical fiction Dead Cow Road and novels like Matthew Palmer’s Enemy of the Good and Ann Gaylia O’Barr’s Night Watch . Taken together, these books give the reading public an intimate view into the world of the Foreign Service. Opening the focus, successful author and former FSO Peter Kujawinski shares his journey to becoming a writer, and offers suggestions for others looking to do the same. Ambas- sador (ret.) Charles Ray spurs us on with the details of his disciplined daily writ- ing life. Shawn Dorman is the editor of The Foreign Service Journal. Through FS writing, the story of the Foreign Service can get out.