Achievement Award: John Irving and Owen Meany

achievement award: It's named for the late U.S. diplomat who brokered the 1995 Bosnia peace accords reached in Ohio, according to CTV. Sharon Rab, founder and chairwoman of the peace prize foundation, said Irving's books often show the tragedy of a lack of empathy and sympathy for our fellow humans ... through books -- especially Irving's books -- readers learn to understand and identify with people different from themselves. Dayton Literary Peace Prize officials chose John Irving, whose first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published 50 years ago when he was 26, for the Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. Irving's all-time bestselling novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, examines faith, fate and social justice through the intertwined lives of two boyhood friends. The National Book Award-winning The World According to Garp was made into a movie starring the late Robin Williams, and Irving won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the movie version of The Cider House Rules, which deals with issues including abortion. Often using humour to illuminate deep topics, Irving's works have included bisexual, homosexual and transgender people. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.