Dayton Literary Peace Prize

The 2020
Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke
Distinguished Achievement
Award Winner

The 2020 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke
Distinguished Achievement Award Winner

Margaret Atwood

“What does writing have to do with peace?  Writing as the placing of words on surfaces – clay, stone, papyrus, vellum, paper – not much. Early writing was used to record inventories and to praise rulers, but not to encourage peace.

But fiction writing is different. If the fiction presents its characters in the round – what they think, what they feel, who they love and fear – it’s impossible not to realize that those being read about are as human as those doing the reading. And if the characters are from other places or other cultures, it becomes less and less possible to dismiss such people as not like us and therefore not our fellow mortals.

Writers are limited in their range – in what they are able to write about – whereas readers are not. Readers can read across the whole sweep of human experience – as far back in the past as they can see, as far afield as they can reach, as far into the future as it is possible to imagine. The closer we are to a person, the psychiatrists tell us, the harder it is to actually murder them. Perhaps that is the way in which reading is conducive to peace: it brings us closer together. If I feel I know you, understand you, and like you, why would I wish to make war on you?

That, at any rate, is our hope. We could certainly use a little hope, right about now. “

— Margaret Atwood            

Advancing Peace through Literature

2020 Winners

Announcing Soon!

Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award Winner

Margaret Atwood

Fiction Winner
Golnaz
Hashemzadeh
Bonde
What We Owe
Fiction
Runner-up

Richard Powers
The Overstory
Nonfiction
Winner

Eli Saslow
Rising Out
of Hatred
Nonfiction
Runner-up

Wil Haygood
Tigerland

Statement of Equal Justice

June 19, 2020

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is dedicated to advancing peace through the power of the written word. There can never be peace without justice and equity for all people, but particularly for individuals of color and those who have been historically marginalized.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize stands with all those in the United States and around the world who are lifting up their words and voices to call for justice and an end to oppression and systemic racism. Words educate, inspire, exalt and move us to reflect and change.

The critical movement that’s capturing the minds and hearts of so many can be informed by the written word. We celebrate writers dedicated to peace and justice—their words challenge us to be better. We acknowledge that the light they have shown on racism, violence, prejudice, cruelty, and inequity has gone unheeded too long. We encourage everyone to act on the words of these writers, either by continuing present efforts or by seeking new opportunities to expand and extend actions leading to peace.

Founder and Board of Trustees President
Dayton Literary Peace Prize