Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Google
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Y! MyWebDayton Literary Peace Prize winners honored
> See photos from the event
Sunday, September 28, 2008
DAYTON — Peace isn't a hard sell these days, though achieving it can lead to serious conflict. That irony wasn't lost on the audience of about 300 who attended the ceremony honoring the winners of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize on Sunday, Sept. 28 at the Schuster Center, but the overriding message of personal responsibility resonated.
The main event was a speech by Dayton Literary Peace Prize Lifetime Achievement Award winner Taylor Branch, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy "America in the King Years."
He brought home the lesson learned in the decades he spent researching and writing "Parting the Waters" (1988), "Pillar of Fire (1998), and "At Canaan's Edge" (2006): Nonviolence is one of the underlying foundations of democracy, and it's epitomized by the not-so-simple act of casting a vote.
"Democracy is a cathedral of votes and votes are pieces of nonviolence," Branch said in his acceptance speech. He bemoaned the idea that nonviolence has become passe, believing it to be the one enduring way of imparting change learned from the civil rights movement, personified by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Branch's message capped off a night that balanced serious reflection and lightheartedness, the latter courtesy of host Nick Clooney. City pride was evident in the person of Edwin C. Moses, a Dayton native and Olympic gold medalist who introduced Branch by reminiscing about his days reading King biographies at Dayton Public Libraries.
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is awarded annually to writers of fiction and nonfiction, with runners-up in each category. The winners receive $10,000; the runners-up $1,000.
Junot Diaz, fiction winner for "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," spoke of finding art in his mother's struggle to raise her children; Edwidge Danticat, nonfiction winner for "Brother, I'm Dying," spoke of the immigrant's struggle. Nonfiction runner-up Cullen Murphy ("Are We Rome?") offered hope: "Rome was a complacent place; America, at its best, is not complacent." Fiction runner-up Daniel Alacon ("Lost City Radio") was unable to attend.
The Central State University Chorus ended the evening with "Let There Be Peace on Earth," a song befitting an event at which peace was the guest of honor.
