Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Named in honor of the U.S. diplomat who brokered the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, the Holbrooke Award is annually given to a writer whose body of work fosters peace and global understanding. Previous recipients include Geraldine Brooks (2010), Tim O’Brien (2012), Gloria Steinem (2015), Margaret Atwood (2020/2021), Wil Haygood (2022), and Sandra Cisneros (2023) among others.
“The future of this country is still incredibly important to President Carter,” said Nicholas A. Raines, executive director of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. “He’s also written more books than some of our past Holbrooke winners, most of which could each, in themselves, be contenders for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. One of the criteria for becoming a Holbrooke recipient is a body of work. President Carter has a tremendous body of work, certainly in his writing more than 30 books, but when you look at what he has accomplished through and even beyond his writing, particularly brokering one of the most significant peace deals the world has ever seen in the Camp David Accords, he has been (dedicated) to the pursuit of peace and the betterment of humankind.”
Jason Carter and Josh Carter, President Carter’s grandsons, will be in attendance to accept the award on their grandfather’s behalf.
“Throughout his long and remarkable life, President Jimmy Carter has had many passions,” Jason Carter explained in a press statement. “Two of his most enduring interests have been a devotion to literature and a near-constant pursuit of a peaceful resolution to conflict. It is gratifying to have the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation choose to honor my grandfather with the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award for a lifetime of work melding two of his loves — literature and peace.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Raines is very pleased to have the Carter family represented.
“Generally the larger Carter family is so excited for the president to be honored with a focus being on his work as an author,” Raines said.
“My grandfather’s lifetime of work is wide-reaching,” Jason Carter added. “The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation’s recognition of his unshakable commitment to finding words that inspire world leaders and people across the globe is a great honor and a wonderful acknowledgment of how my grandfather has helped shape history. I look forward to being in Dayton to personally accept this award on behalf of my grandfather, President Jimmy Carter, and to celebrate and discuss his tireless and ongoing devotion to exploring the many paths to peace through the written word.”
Fiction and nonfiction honorees
The fiction and nonfiction winners each receive a $10,000 cash prize and the Fiction and Nonfiction runners-up each receive a $5,000 cash prize. “Prophet Song” by Paul Lynch (Grove Press) is the winner of the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for fiction, and “Built from the Fire” by Victor Luckerson (Random House) is the winner of the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction. “The Postcard” by Anne Berest (Europa Editions) is the runner-up in the fiction category, and “Red Memory” by Tania Branigan (W.W. Norton) is the runner-up in the nonfiction category.
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, “Prophet Song” tells a story of a country sliding into authoritarianism and a mother’s fight to hold her family together.
“I am pleased and honored to be awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize which recognizes the power of fiction to promote peace,” Lynch said in a press statement. “The human cost of war is a story that must be retold again and again and it is our duty as artists to find new ways to tell it. The life of every human being is unto themselves a world.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Victor Luckerson’s “Built from the Fire” chronicles a multigenerational saga of a family and community in Tulsa’s Greenwood district, known nationally as “Black Wall Street,” from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to Greenwood’s revival today.
“When I entered the world of Greenwood, I wanted to write a book about creation rather than destruction,” Luckerson said in a press statement. “The Dayton Literary Peace Prize amplifies that mission by highlighting the ingenuity and perseverance of this community. I’m grateful for the honor.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Anne Berest’s “The Postcard” is based on the story of her real family. An anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest home in Paris bearing the names of Berest’s maternal great-grandparents and two of their children — all four killed at Auschwitz. Berest is led to discover who sent it and why.
“To receive an award that honors peace is especially significant to me, not only as a writer, but as a Frenchwoman and citizen of this world,” Berest said in a press statement. “I am deeply moved.”
Tania Branigan’s “Red Memory” focuses on China during the decade of Maoist fanaticism between 1966 and 1976 when “children turned on parents, students condemned teachers, and as many as two million people died for their supposed political sins.”
“I’m truly honored to be recognized in this way by the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, among such remarkable and thoughtful titles,” Branigan said in a press statement.
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Raines is not only pleased with the winners but he’s thrilled for the international appeal they provide.
“It is a strong slate of winners,” Raines said. “We talk about the Dayton Literary Peace Prize being an international award, and of our two Ffction and two nonfiction recipients, three of the four are from Europe. Paul Lynch is coming from Ireland, Anne Berest is coming from France, and Tania Branigan is coming from England. The idea of the far-reaching impact of these books is so evident this year given the range in geography of our honorees.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
‘We can make a difference through literature’
On Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Victoria Theatre, Jason Carter along with the aforementioned Lynch, Luckerson, Berest, and Branigan will participate in a discussion. The panel will be moderated by Gilbert King, Dayton Literary Peace Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Devil in the Grove.”
“The Saturday event will be an incredibly meaningful time,” Raines said. “On Sunday the authors will speak but it will be an acceptance speech. It’s a monologue whereas Saturday it’s a conversation. We will take each of the author’s books, and through Gilbert’s questions and leading the discussion, it will allow the audience to understand how each of the books plays such a relevant role in so much of what’s going on in our country today. We really get to the heart of issues. It’s a debate-style conversation where, hopefully, people walk away understanding first and foremost that minds can be changed and we can make a difference through literature. The work of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize has a growing impact, especially as we see an ongoing increase in the global, geopolitical climate.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
HOW TO GO
What: Dayton Literary Peace Prize: A Conversation with the Authors
Where: Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton
When: 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9. Doors open at 3 p.m.
Tickets: $25-$171
More info: Call 937-228-3630 or visit daytonlive.org
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
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