Other honorees were:
- Sunil Amrith, winner in nonfiction for his book, “The Burning Earth.”
- Kaveh Akbar, winner in fiction for his novel, “Martyr!”
- Lauren Markham, runner-up in nonfiction for her book, “A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging.”
- Priscilla Morris, runner up in fiction for her novel, “Black Butterflies.”
Nicholas Raines, the Executive Director of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation, welcome guests to its annual gala. What follows are his remarks:
Twenty years. Two decades. A generation . . . of believing that words can change the world.
When this prize was founded in 2005, something fundamental shaped it in the fire of its creation, the forge of truth – that peace is not merely the absence of conflict. For us, it’s the courage of an author to confront injustice, unblinkingly, with a pen.
What courage.
Tonight, together, we are the peacemakers.
Not because we avoid conflict, but because we choose to engage with it – productively. Every writer whose work we’ve honored across these twenty years has understood that wielding words can sometimes feel like taking up a weapon – and that often, conflict occurs precisely because we don’t take our words seriously enough.
In an age of disposable, constant content, it becomes far easier to miss what really matters. Words matter. Human stories matter.
Think about the writers we’ve honored. Think about the writers around the world right now who risk their lives for the right to tell stories – to speak freely.
Think of the writers in this very nation – the journalists and reporters – who are now threatened for seeking the truth and daring to write it. Think about calling real news fake . . . and fake news real.
We must recognize that honest stories told in defiance of censorship are acts of peacemaking. Every memoir that refuses to soften trauma, every novel that humanizes the enemy, every poem that gives voice to the silenced – these are not just art. They are prayers that the voiceless will one day find their words among ours and tell their own stories of peace.
The glory of peace – and this is something I think we can forget – the glory of peace does not lie in winning. There is no trophy for defeating an enemy when your weapon is empathy. The glory lies in knowing you’ve done the right thing for someone else. That you’ve expanded the circle of human understanding even by a fraction. That you’ve made one reader, somewhere, see the world through different eyes.
We, together, are the peacemakers – writers, readers, and champions for them both. Not because we are perfect, not because we have all the answers, but because we believe in the power of stories to change hearts. Because we understand that every act of reading is an act of faith – faith that someone else’s story matters, that their pain is real, that their joy is worth celebrating.
So yes – welcome to the 20th anniversary celebration of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Tonight, we honor the enduring belief that words can mend what violence has shattered. That stories can rebuild what hatred has torn down.
That literature, in all its beauty and bravery, remains our most powerful force for empathy, understanding, and peace.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for believing in this mission. And thank you for being peacemakers in your own right, one book, one story, one moment of understanding at a time.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Nicholas Raines is the Executive Director of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. You can find more information at DaytonLiteraryPeacePrize.org.
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