THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2024 47 The Book of Allies Chigozie Okocha, independently published, 2024, $13.99/paperback, e-book available, 148 pages. e Book of Allies is a compilation of 10 short stories, all based on realworld events, to inspire and o er hope to young adult readers ages 11 to 18. e collection of short stories features a variety of characters, from Oom Bey, who fought against apartheid in South Africa, to an extreme couponer in Woodbridge, Virginia. e author features people who have been motivated to do and be better for their community, encouraging readers to step into positions of leadership. Chigozie Okocha joined the State Department as a Foreign Service o cer in 2015. He has served in Casablanca, Hyderabad, Quito, and Washington, D.C. He recently started his fth assignment as a policy adviser (POLAD) to AFRICOM. POETRY The Commuter’s Confessions Lucia Melgar, Finishing Line Press, 2023, $17.99/paperback, e-book available, 38 pages. e Commuter’s Confessions is the rst book of poetry by Lucia Melgar, who is also new to the Foreign Service. e poems focus on the quiet and heartpounding thoughts that accompany train commuters in the short span of time before they arrive at their destination, when, writes the poet, their inner desires, fears, observations, and meditations come to light. We question if we really want to arrive, if we should be headed elsewhere, or even if we should have traveled in the rst place. Lucia Melgar is currently in limited non-career appointment (LNA) training at the Foreign Service Institute before setting out for Panama City in early 2025. Before becoming an LNA, Melgar spent seven years as an internal auditor for Goldman Sachs and Citibank. Her poems have been published previously in Dovetail, the art and literary journal of the NYU School of Professional Studies. Corona/Crown Kim Roberts and Robert Revere, WordTech Editions, 2023, $21.25/ paperback, e-book available, 44 pages. A collaboration between poet Kim Roberts and ne art photographer Rob Revere, Corona/Crown is a personal response to the closing of cultural spaces during the COVID-19 lockdowns. is series of prose poems and photographs borrows from the formal tradition of heroic crowns of sonnets—corona is Italian for “crown”—in which each section is connected to the last by a repeated line or phrase. is slim book references speci c cultural experiences while keeping in mind the larger issues of mortality, health, and love. Photographer Robert Revere is a public diplomacy o cer currently posted in Dushanbe. He has also served in Manama, Montreal, Freetown, and Washington, D.C. He studied at the Corcoran School of Art, the Art Institute of Boston, and the Maine Photographic Workshops, and taught at Maryland College of Art and Design. His work has been exhibited in Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston, and he has been an artist in residence at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Ireland’s Burren College of Art. GUIDEBOOK/SELF-HELP Diplomatically: A Guide for Creating Work-Life Balance in the Foreign Service Yikee Adje, independently published, 2023, $15.95/paperback, e-book available, 109 pages. is book by active-duty USAID FSO Yikee Adje provides a practical road map on how to align your professional aspirations with your personal priorities. It will give you the tools to build strong relationships, communicate e ectively, and approach your work with intention so that you can negotiate for and achieve work-life balance. Diplomatically unveils the “3Cs” approach— connection, communication, and courage—that are key to Adje’s success as a Foreign Service o cer and mother to ve children.
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