Philippe Sands wins 2026 German Book Trade Peace Prize
The Franco-British lawyer and author has been named the 2026 recipient of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, awarded annually during the Frankfurt Book Fair. The jury cites his persistent defense of international law and his literary exploration of justice through personal and family histories.
Award announcement
The Franco-British jurist and author Philippe Sands has been named the 2026 laureate of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels announced on Wednesday, June 25. The award, endowed with 25,000 euros, will be presented during the closing ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair on 11 October at St. Paul's Church. The prize has been awarded annually since 1950 to individuals who have contributed to the realization of peace through literature, science, or art.
The recipient
Sands, born in London in 1960, is a professor of international law at University College London and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He works as a human rights lawyer at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where he has been involved in several major international law cases. Among them, he has represented Palestinians and Rohingya. Together with other lawyers, he also helped develop the legal definition of "ecocide" for disasters caused by global warming.
A literary pursuit of justice
Descended from Holocaust survivors, Sands uses his own family history to illustrate how international law emerged and what experiences underlie the crimes of "genocide" and "crimes against humanity". His approach blends non-fiction, literary narrative, and reportage, transcending conventional genre boundaries. Notable works include "Rückkehr nach Lemberg" and "Die Rattenlinie", which write against forgetting, as well as "Die letzte Kolonie" and "Die Verschwundenen von Londres 38", based on cases he argued at the ICJ.
Philippe Sands campaigns for justice, peace, and the persistent defense of international law.
As a descendant of Holocaust survivors, he shows along his own family history how this law came into being and what experiences underlie the offenses of 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity'.
Past recipients
Past winners of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade include Albert Schweitzer, Yehudi Menuhin, Hermann Hesse, Astrid Lindgren, Václav Havel, Salman Rushdie, and Anne Applebaum. In 2025, the prize went to historian Karl Schlögel. The Börsenverein, the professional organization of German publishers and booksellers, awards the prize to personalities who, through their work in literature, science, or art, have made an outstanding contribution to the realization of the peace idea.
