NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� latest honor has an international scope.
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation announced Wednesday that Patchett is this year’s recipient of the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award for 鈥渁 writer whose body of work reflects the Prize鈥檚 mission of fostering peace, social justice, and global understanding.鈥�
The award is named for the late diplomat who served under among others and is credited with helping to broker the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that . Previous winners include former and
Patchett, 62, is known for such novels as 鈥淏el Canto,鈥� 鈥淭he Dutch House鈥� and 鈥淪tate of Wonder.鈥� She also owns the Nashville-based bookstore Parnassus and advocates often for fellow writers, her efforts leading to present her its PEN/Audible Literary Service Award at a gala last month in Manhattan.
In a statement issued Wednesday through the Dayton foundation, Patchett advised setting realistic goals for how to make meaningful contributions.
鈥淚f you wait to find a way to bring peace to the world there鈥檚 a good chance that nothing will be accomplished,鈥� she said. 鈥淚nstead, I recommend bringing about peace in any small way that is available to you. Live as peacefully and as generously as possible. Invite others to stand with you or, better yet, go and stand with them.鈥�
The foundation also announced that memoir 鈥淔ree: My Search for Meaning鈥� is among the 12 finalists for Dayton Literary Peace Prize awards for fiction and nonfiction from 2025 that demonstrate 鈥渢he power of the written word to foster peace.鈥� Knox’s book recounts her life after being imprisoned in Italy on murder charges and eventually being exonerated.
Nonfiction contenders besides 鈥淔ree鈥� include Danielle Leavitt’s Ukraine chronicle 鈥淏y the Second Spring,鈥� Jack Fairweather’s 鈥淭he Prosecutor: One Man’s Battle to Bring Nazis to Justice鈥� and Eve L. Ewing’s 鈥淥riginal Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism.鈥� Gish Jen’s 鈥淏ad Bad Girl,鈥� Karen Russell’s 鈥淭he Antidote鈥� and Sam Wachman’s 鈥淭he Sunflower Boys鈥� are among the fiction finalists.
Winners, to be announced in September, each receive $10,000.
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