{"id":62090,"date":"2016-04-20T18:53:47","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T18:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/community\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2022-09-28T15:05:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T19:05:36","slug":"literature-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2016\/04\/20\/literature-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Carol<\/a>

Carol Loranger leads Wright State\u2019s involvement in the literary prize<\/p><\/div>\n

Carol Loranger believes that books can transform the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a true believer. I really do believe that books can change people\u2019s lives,\u201d said Loranger, chair and associate professor of English language and literatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that words can change things\u2014that\u2019s certainly a university value and it\u2019s absolutely a College of Liberal Arts value,\u201d she said. \u201cNearly every one of our disciplines focuses on understanding how humans shape their world with language.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big reason why Loranger leads Wright State University\u2019s involvement in the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which commemorates the Dayton Peace Accords by annually recognizing literature that promotes the cause of peace. The prize honors adult fiction and nonfiction books that lead readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.<\/p>\n

The prize was founded by Sharon Rab, who graduated from Wright State with a Master of Education degree in 1975. Rab also received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the university during fall 2015 commencement.<\/p>\n

\"Dayton<\/a>

Dayton Literary Peace Prize<\/p><\/div>\n

Negotiated at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords ended years of ethnic warfare in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.<\/p>\n

Rab, who taught language arts at Kettering Fairmont High School and composition at Miami University, said she saw lives that were changed by literature. \u201cWords can heal,\u201d she said during a 2013 TEDxDayton talk.<\/p>\n

From the winning books, she said, \u201cI\u2019ve learned hope, I\u2019ve learned wonder, and I\u2019ve learned peace. I\u2019m a better person for having read the books, for having met the authors, and for having listened to their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright State has long had a strong connection with the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which was first awarded in 2006. Wright State faculty and administrators serve on peace prize committees, help decide prizewinners, support the prize, and welcome authors to campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s consonant with what we try to do at universities: to ask tough questions that will ultimately lead to promoting understanding between and among people,\u201d Loranger said. \u201cSo literature about peace or social justice issues has an education function.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chuck Taylor, dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts, played an instrumental role in getting both the college and Wright State involved in the prize.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the beginning it was very clearly a Dayton community project,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI thought it was absolutely essential that Wright State take part in this community project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the literary peace prize and the Dayton Peace Accords bring a lot of positive attention to Dayton, Loranger said. \u201cDayton is a city that takes its place on the national stage seriously, and we\u2019re willing to put some skin in the game. We support these authors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Taylor and Henry Limouze, who was chair of the Department of English Language and Literatures, sat on the literary peace prize\u2019s planning committee in its nascent stage. Today, Loranger serves on the steering committee and the panel that oversees the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, the peace prize\u2019s lifetime achievement award.<\/p>\n

Many Wright State and College of Liberal Arts faculty support the prize by attending its annual gala, during which the winners are honored. Ticket sales from the gala help fund the prizes.<\/p>\n

\"16642<\/a>

Phil Donahue talks to University President David R. Hopkins and Angelia Hopkins at a peace prize gala<\/p><\/div>\n

The gala brings together those in the Dayton community who share a passion for great literature about peace, Taylor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I attend the event, I\u2019m reminded \u2018Books are important!\u2019 \u2018Literature is important!\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a collection of people from diverse parts of the Dayton community who have come together because of their shared love of literature. It is not a gathering for academics. I sat at a table at the latest event with an M.D., a journalist, and a fundraiser for a religious organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every year, Wright State faculty serve as first readers for the prize, reading many nominated books and recommending which works the judges should consider.<\/p>\n

First readers include Christopher Chaffee, professor of music; Jacob Dorn, professor emeritus of history; Lynette Jones, professor of English; Melissa Spirek, professor of communication; Sarah Twill, chair and professor of social work; and Mary Beth Pringle, professor emerita of English. Pringle also wrote the formal citation for Gloria Steinem, who received the 2015 Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award.<\/p>\n

English faculty members Lynette Jones and Drew Strombeck serve on a consortium that coordinates events held at local universities surrounding the annual awarding of the prizes.<\/p>\n

The English department regularly coordinates with other Wright State departments\u2014including African and African American Studies; History; Social Work; and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies\u2014to organize events related to the literary prize and bring authors to campus for public readings and to meet with students.<\/p>\n

Taylor said he is proud that the peace prize encouraged collaboration among people from different disciplines. \u201cIt gets the people involved not only within the university across disciplines, but it gets people involved who are outside our university and outside universities as a whole,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Strombeck, an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literatures, played a significant role last fall when he organized Accords: Peace, War, and the Arts, a collaborative, multidisciplinary event that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords and the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

Sponsored by Wright State\u2019s Ohio Center of Excellence in Collaborative Education, Leadership, and Innovation in the Arts (CELIA), Accords included a photography exhibition, a concert, and a literary conference titled Ten Years of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

Strombeck organized the events as a CELIA fellow in spring 2015. He focused his fellowship on the literary peace prize because it supports and strengthens Dayton\u2019s reading public and responds to a bright moment in international affairs that is also an important moment in Dayton\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only is the prize a crucial part of Dayton\u2019s literary cultures, it also poses important questions about what literature might actually do to promote peace,\u201d Strombeck said.<\/p>\n

\"Gloria<\/a>

Gloria Steinem, winner of the 2015 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award<\/p><\/div>\n

Along with the Dayton rock band Guided By Voices, the Dayton Peace Accords were one of the two things Strombeck knew about Dayton before he moved here to teach at Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that people who wished death on each other could be brought together to work things out seemed so powerful to me as a young person in the 1990s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The literary conference examined how literature engages war, promotes peace, and encourages conflict resolution. It featured numerous speakers, including several Dayton Literary Peace Prize winners, panel discussions, and theatrical and musical performances by Wright State students.<\/p>\n

\u201cVisions of Conflict,\u201d the photo exhibition held during Accords: Peace, War, and the Arts, featured works by a photographer from Sarajevo, two war photojournalists, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. The exhibition was curated by Benjamin Montague, associate professor of art.<\/p>\n

Strombeck\u2019s project attracted a Bosnian television news crew to Wright State. The crew filmed Wright State music students performing and interviewed faculty members as part of a Bosnian television program commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords.<\/p>\n

Wright State faculty also use works by winners of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Last academic year, Strombeck taught a course on Literature and Conflict, featuring works from some of the winners, while students in Loranger\u2019s peace literature course wrote reading group guides for some of the winning books.<\/p>\n

The Department of English Language and Liter-atures is creating readers\u2019 guides for the 2015 prizewinners\u2019 works.<\/p>\n

Loranger also works with Wright State Libraries to create a searchable online accumulative bibliography of peace prizewinners and runners-up. She wrote the introduction, a brief history of the peace prize, and instructions on how to use the website and compiles the winning books for each year. The site can be viewed at corescholar.libraries.wright.edu\/dlpp<\/b><\/p>\n

An avid reader who specializes in 20th century American literature, Loranger said the Dayton Literary Peace Prize is a great way to find new important books to read.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s this reading list of good books selected by your contemporaries in Dayton,\u201d she said, \u201cand they can have a positive impact on your world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carol Loranger believes that books can transform the world. \u201cI\u2019m a true believer. I really do believe that books can change people\u2019s lives,\u201d said Loranger, chair and associate professor of English language and literatures. \u201cThe idea that words can change … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":61514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4863,747,4827,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities-and-cultural-studies","category-liberal-arts","category-magazine","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130124,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62090\/revisions\/130124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}