[OPLINLIST] Dayton Literary Peace Prize 2015 Winners Announced

[Gregor, Paul]

Please see the following release and information which has been posted on behalf of Helen Pritchard and the Library Committee of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
JUST MERCY BY BRYAN STEVENSON AND THE GREAT GLASS SEA BY JOSH WEIL
NAMED WINNERS OF 2015 DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE
The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs has been named non-fiction runner up
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr has been named fiction runner-up
Just Mercy (Penguin Random House) is a personal narrative by Bryan Stevenson, one of the country's leading legal thinkers and social justice advocates. While recounting one of his first cases out of law school - the battle to free a black Alabama man sentenced to die for a murder he insisted he didn't commit - Stevenson also tells the stories of men, women, and children, innocent and guilty, who found themselves at the mercy of an often merciless system. The book traces the education of a young lawyer fighting on the front lines of a country in thrall to extreme punishments and careless justice.
http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2015-nonfiction_winner.htm


In The Great Glass Sea (Grove Atlantic), Weil sets his epic tragedy of brotherly love against the dystopian backdrop of an alternative present-day Russia. Swathed in all the magic of Russian folklore, the story centers on inseparable twin brothers who work in the largest greenhouse in the world. A chance encounter with their billionaire employer turns them into pawns for opposing ideologies, threatening to break their bond.
http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2015-fiction_winner.htm
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs (Scribner) is the brilliant, deeply-researched account of the life of Hobbs' college roommate Robert DeShaun Peace, a talented young African-American man who grew up in the inner city of Newark, New Jersey with a father in jail and a mother earning $15,000 a year. Peace left Newark on a full scholarship to Yale University, but tragically succumbed to the dangers of the streets and his own nature when he returned home after graduation. http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2015-nonfiction_runner-up.htm
In All the Light We Cannot See (Simon and Schuster) Anthony Doerr creates a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as they both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2015-fiction_runner-up.htm


"This year's winners tell the often tragic stories of lives shaped by outside forces - systemic injustice, political corruption, racism, war - that are beyond any one person's control," said Sharon Rab, founder and co-chair of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. "While no one can singlehandedly topple those forces, these books remind us that we can and must work together to diminish them."

Previously, Gloria Steinem, the iconic author and activist whose writing helped shape modern feminism, was announced as the recipient the 2015 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award at the 10th Annual Dayton Literary Peace Prize Gala on November 1st.

To be eligible for the 2015 awards, English-language books must have been published or translated into English in 2014 and address the theme of peace on a variety of levels, such as between individuals, among families and communities, or among nations, religions, or ethnic groups.

A panel of prominent writers, including Ron Carlson, Christine Schutt, Faith Adiele, and Evelyn McDonnell, reviewed the 2015 finalists and selected this year's winners and runners-up.

For additional information please see:
http://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/

Thank you.
(cross postings to Publib-L, Libref-L and Oplinlist)
Paul Gregor | Head Librarian | Jamestown Community Library | 86 Seaman Drive | Jamestown, OH 45335 | 937-736-7910

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