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Frankfurt book fair ends as Grossman is awarded peace prize

Oct 10, 2010, 11:35 GMT

Frankfurt - David Grossman, one of Israel's most prominent writers, was awarded the German Book Trade's Peace Prize for 2010 on Sunday as the Frankfurt book fair drew to an end.

'He is receiving the peace prize for the fact that he assiduously refuses to be part of a retribution mechanism,' said civil rights activist Joachim Gauck, a former East German dissident.

Gauck, who held the award speech for Grossman, said the Israeli author set an example to all, by showing that 'humans are not condemned to be victims of their circumstances. People have a choice.'

Grossman, whose books mirror the complex and conflicting reality of life in modern-day Israel, has continued to write after his son Uri was killed in the 2006 war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas.

'You are facing your own Goliath of daily hate, and are not even armed with a slingshot. But you are David,' Gauck told the author.

German President Christian Wulff also attended the award ceremony. The 25,000-euro (35,000-dollar) prize is presented annually at the end of the Frankurt Book Fair.

This year's panel chose Grossman for the prize to award 'a work that speaks of hope, which refuses to allow the war in his country, the war in all the world and the war within us to have the final say.'

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