Education
Born in Portland, Maine, Huston studied in France and later worked in Africa.
Born in Portland, Maine, Huston studied in France and later worked in Africa.
She is commemorated by the international Perdita Huston Human Rights Award. She was director of public affairs for TIME magazine in French-speaking countries, and in 1978 became a Regional Director of the Peace Corps. Her first book "Message from the Village" was also published in 1978.
She later worked for the World Conservation Union (International Union for Conservation of Nature) in Switzerland and at the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in London and acted as consultant with United Nations Development Programme, UNIFEM, United Nations Population Fund and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. From 1997, she returned to work for the Peace Corps as a Country Director in Mali and then Bulgaria.
The Perdita Huston Human Rights Award is supported by the Washington District of Columbia chapter of the United Nations Association of the United States of America. The awardees include 2003 - Sima Samar 2004 - Madame Fatumata Traore 2005 - Mississippi
Ranjana Gaur 2006 - Sunitha Krishnan 2007 - Zipporah Sein, Bishnu Pariyar, and Samar Minallah 2011- Zainab Salbi.