Contested Land, Contested Memory: Israel's Jews and Arabs and the Ghosts of Catastrophe, by Toronto-based writer and anthropologist Jo Roberts, has become the first Canadian publication to place second at the prestigious Dayton Literary Peace Prize, it was announced today. Roberts will be honored at a gala ceremony in Dayton, OH on November 9th, alongside non-fiction winner Karima Bennoune, author of Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here.

A book by Toronto-based writer and anthropologist Jo Roberts has been shortlisted for the prestigious Dayton Literary Peace Prize, it was announced yesterday.  Roberts is the only Canadian among the twelve finalists for the international award, a list that includes Jesmyn Ward, whose novel Salvage the Bones won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction, and David Finkel, noted Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

 “I’m delighted and honoured that my work has been chosen,” said Roberts.