PIQUA – Held in conjunction with the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Edison State Community College’s English Department will host Peace Week at the Piqua Campus from Nov. 4-8.
The week will begin with a keynote address from Pulitzer Prize and DLPP nonfiction winning author Gilbert King from 2 to 3 p.m. Nov. 4 in the East Hall Tech Lounge. The event is offered free of charge and is open to the community.
King will discuss his award-winning novel, “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America,” which depicts an account of one of the lesser-known, but significant, Jim Crow criminal cases of the 20th century.
According to his website, King is the author of three books, most recently, “Beneath a Ruthless Sun.” His previous book, “Devil in the Grove,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction in 2013. A New York Times bestseller, the book also was named runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for nonfiction and was a finalist for both the Chautauqua Prize and the Edgar Award.
King has written about race, civil rights and the death penalty for the New York Times, the Washington Post and The Atlantic, and he is a contributor to The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. King’s earlier book, “The Execution of Willie Francis,” was published in 2008. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
The speaking engagement follows the DLPP awards ceremony, which is a ticketed event held on Nov. 3, at the Benjamin J. Shuster Center in Dayton.
Inspired by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that ended the war in Bosnia, the DLPP is the only international literary peace prize awarded in the United States. The prize celebrates the power of literature to promote peace, social justice and global understanding.
Additional Peace Week activities include a visit from guest speaker Rick Polhamus, who will present about his work and travels with the Christian Peacemakers organization, poetry readings and the announcement of this year’s student peace essay winners. A peace graffiti wall also will be on display for visitors to take pictures and write messages for peace.
For more information, contact William Loudermilk at [email protected].
