The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is an annual United States literary award "recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace" that was first awarded in 2006. Awards are given for adult fiction and non-fiction books published at some point within the immediate past year that have led readers to a better understanding of other peoples, cultures, religions, and political views, with the winner in each category receiving a cash prize of $10,000. The award is an offshoot of the Dayton Peace Prize, which grew out of the 1995 peace accords ending the Bosnian War.Studs Terkel to receive first Dayton literary prize In 2011, the former "Lifetime Achievement Award" was renamed the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award with a $10,000 honorarium.
In 2008, Martin Luther King Jr. biographer Taylor Branch joined Studs Terkel and Elie Wiesel as a recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's Lifetime Achievement Award,King biographer latest Literary Peace Prize honoree which was presented to him special guest Edwin C. Moses. The 2008 ceremony was held in Dayton, Ohio, on September 28, 2008. Nick Clooney, who hosted the ceremony in 2007, again served as the evening's host in 2008 and 2009.Dayton Literary Peace Prize – An International Award
The 2009 ceremony was held in Dayton, Ohio, on November 8, 2009, at which married authors and journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize's 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is recognized as "the first and only U.S. literary award recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace." The foundation's goal is to reward writers "whose work uses the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding."
In addition to the $10,000 cash prize for the Fiction and Nonfiction winners, the runners-up in both categories also receive a $5,000 cash prize. Furthermore, the winners of the three main categories receive a unique Michael Bashaw sculpture as part of their award package.
Recent recipients of the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award (the lifetime honor) include Salman Rushdie (2025). The most recent Fiction winner is Sam Wachman (2026) for The Sunflower Boys and the most recent Nonfiction winner is Kevin Sack (2026) for Mother Emanuel.
Recipients
Fiction YearAuthorTitleResultRef.2006Francine ProseWinnerKevin HaworthRunner-up2007Brad KesslerBirds in FallWinnerLisa FugardSkinner's DriftRunner-up2008WinnerLost City RadioRunner-up2009PeaceWinnerSay You're One of ThemRunner-upFinalistBeijing ComaFinalistTelex from Cuba FinalistSong Yet SungFinalist2010WinnerRunner-upFinalistFinalistFinalistCutting for StoneFinalist2011WinnerBeneath the Lion's GazeRunner-upHow to Read the AirFinalistFinalistKapitoilFinalist2012WinnerNanjing RequiemRunner-upFinalistFinalistShardsFinalistSalvage the BonesFinalist2013WinnerBilly Lynn's Long Halftime WalkRunner-upFinalistFinalistFinalistFinalist2014WinnerWashRunner-upFinalistSomeone Finalist with Edith Grossman In the Night of TimeFinalistFinalist2015WinnerAll the Light We Cannot SeeRunner-upFinalistFinalistFinalistLand of Love and Drowning Finalist2016WinnerDelicious FoodsRunner-upGreen on BlueFinalistYoungbloodFinalistOrhan's InheritanceFinalistFinalist2017WinnerHomegoingRunner-upRobert Olen ButlerPerfume RiverFinalistPeter Ho DaviesFinalistAnnie ProulxBarkskinsFinalistColson WhiteheadFinalist2018Salt HousesWinnerPachinkoRunner-upJenny ErpenbeckGo, Went, GoneFinalistMohsin HamidExit WestFinalistJaroslav KalfařSpaceman of BohemiaFinalistJesmyn WardSing, Unburied, SingFinalist2019What We OweWinnerRunner-upInsurrecto FinalistWhite Chrysanthemum FinalistThere ThereFinalistSadness Is a White BirdFinalist2020Winner Christy LefteriThe Beekeeper of AleppoRunner-upValeria LuiselliLost Children ArchiveFinalistMaurice Carlos RuffinWe Cast a ShadowFinalistElif Shafak10 Minutes, 38 SecondsFinalistColson WhiteheadThe Nickel BoysFinalist2021We GermansWinnerRunner-upFinalistDeacon King KongFinalistShuggie BainFinalistValentineFinalist2022WinnerWhat Comes AfterRunner-upCloud Cuckoo LandFinalistInfinite CountryFinalistNorthFinalistBeasts of a Little LandFinalist2023HorseWinnerRunner-upDidn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to CarlottaFinalistAnthemFinalistMeccaFinalistFinalist2024Prophet SongWinnerRunner-upDust ChildFinalistFinalistRiver Sing Me HomeFinalistWe Meant WellFinalist2025Martyr!WinnerBlack ButterfliesRunner-upFinalistJamesFinalistFinalistFreedom is a FeastFinalist2026WinnerWild Dark ShoreRunner-upBad Bad GirlFinalistOutside WomenFinalistFinalistToo SoonFinalist
Nonfiction YearAuthorTitleResultRef.2006Stephen WalkerShockwave: Countdown to HiroshimaWinnerAdam HochschildBury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's SlavesRunner-up2007Mark KurlanskyNonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous IdeaWinnerGreg Mortenson and David Oliver RelinThree Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a TimeRunner-up2008Brother, I'm DyingWinnerAre We RomeRunner-up2009: Face to Face with Modern Day SlaveryWinnerHot, Flat, and CrowdedRunner-upHuman Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization FinalistDust from Our Eyes: An Unblinkered Look at AfricaFinalistWriting in the Dark FinalistMy Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Father's PastFinalistFinalist2010ZeitounWinnerIn the Valley of MistRunner-upFinalistScott Kilman and Enough: Why the Worlds Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty FinalistStones into Schools FinalistElizabeth Norman and Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its AftermathFinalist2011In the Place of Justice: A Story of Punishment and DeliveranceWinnerRunner-upCrossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956–1978 FinalistLittle PrincesFinalistUnbrokenFinalistFor Us Surrender Is Out of the QuestionFinalist2012To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918WinnerDay of HoneyRunner-upMighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer and Sex Changed a Nation at War: A MemoirFinalistWhat It Is Like to Go to War Finalist Finalist2013Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for IdentityWinnerDevil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New AmericaRunner-upBehind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai UndercityFinalistShareen Brysac and Pax EthnicaFinalistBurying the Typewriter FinalistEscape from Camp 14Finalist2014Your Fatwa Does Not Apply HereWinnerContested Land, Contested Memory: Israel's Jews and Arabs and the Ghosts of CatastropheRunner-upKnocking on Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of DeathFinalistThank You for Your Service FinalistHere on the Edge: How a Small Group of World War II Conscientious Objectors Took Art and Peace from the Margins to the MainstreamFinalistMen We ReapedFinalist2015Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and RedemptionWinnerRunner-upWho We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post-Civil Rights AmericaFinalistFinalistNo Man's Land: Preparing for War and Peace in Post-9/11 AmericaFinalistThere Was and There Was Not: A Journey Through Hate and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia, and BeyondFinalist2016Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear WarWinner and Jessica PosnerFind Me UnafraidRunner-upBetween the World and Me FinalistShowdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed AmericaFinalistFinalistFinalist2017What Have We Done: The Moral Injury of Our Longest WarsWinnerCity of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee CampRunner-up2018We Were Eight Years in Power: An American TragedyWinnerReading with PatrickRunner-up2019Rising Out of HatredWinnerTigerlandRunner-upFrederick Douglass: Prophet of FreedomFinalistI Should Have HonorFinalist with Lara Love Hardin: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row FinalistEducatedFinalist2020Know My NameWinnerRunner-up2021When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What RemainsWinnerRunner-upFinalistCarry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen LandFinalistSee No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary LoveFinalistCaste: The Origins of Our Discontents Finalist2022How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across AmericaWinnerInvisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American CityRunner-up: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper TogetherFinalistWildland: The Making of America's FuryFinalistHigh Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get OutFinalist: Coming of Age in the Somali DesertFinalist2023 and Toluse OlorunnipaHis Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial JusticeWinnerAmerican Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten CrisisRunner-upAsian American Histories of the United StatesFinalist with Hannah Lucinda SmithZarifa: A Woman's Battle in a Man's WorldFinalist: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on EarthFinalistMa and Me: A MemoirFinalist2024Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall StreetWinnerRed Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural RevolutionRunner-upFinalistWho Gets Believed?: When the Truth Isn't EnoughFinalist with Jon SternfeldAn Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in AmericaFinalistAll Else Failed: The Unlikely Volunteers at the Heart of the Migrant Aid CrisisFinalist2025The Burning Earth: A HistoryWinnerRunner-upJohn Lewis: A LifeFinalist and Astra TaylorSolidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing IdeaFinalistNuclear War: A ScenarioFinalistFinalist2026Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church WinnerOriginal Sins: The (Mis) education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American RacismRunner-upBy the Second Spring: Seven Lives and One Year of the War in UkraineFinalistFree: My Search for MeaningFinalist and Sophie CullFinalistFinalist
Lifetime Achievement Award YearAuthorRef.2006Studs Terkel2007Elie Wiesel20082009
Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award YearAuthorRef.20102011201220132014201520162017201820192020/202120222023 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Announces Finalists2024Jimmy Carter receives Holbrooke award from Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation2025Salman Rushdie to receive Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation’s Holbrooke Award2026Ann Patchett’s next accolade: A peace prize rooted in the Dayton Accords legacy
References
External links Dayton Literary Peace Prize – An International Award