The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Winners were announced this week. They are The Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel for fiction and What Have We Done by David Wood for nonfiction. The runners-up for the prizes are Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi for fiction and City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence for nonfiction.

“Inspired by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia, The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is the only international literary peace prize awarded in the United States. The Prize celebrates the power of literature to promote peace, social justice, and global understanding.”

A gala ceremony on November 5 will be held in Dayton, Ohio, to celebrate the winners and runners-up, who will receive $10,000 and $2,500, respectively.

“War and political turmoil come about when leaders lose their sense of right and wrong, but they can, in turn, impair the moral compasses of the individuals who, willingly or not, get caught up in such clashes,” said Sharon Rab, founder and co-chair of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. “Starting from two very different perspectives, Patricia Engel and David Wood remind us that to break the cycle of conflict on the global level, we must support and promote the healing process on a personal level.”

Photo Credits: Dayton Literary Peace Prize