Philippe Sands wins 2026 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade

French-British lawyer and writer Philippe Sands has won the 2026 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, one of Germany’s most prestigious literary honours. 

Awarded annually by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, the prize recognises individuals whose work advances peace through literature, scholarship and the arts.

According to the Board of Trustees of the Peace Prize, Sands was honoured for his work in defence of justice, peace and international law. The jury described him as one of the most important intellectual voices of our time and noted that his legal and literary work focuses on genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, racism, torture, colonial injustice and the rights of victims. The jury also cited his initiative to recognise ecocide as a crime in international law.

Sands is a professor of international law at University College London and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. He has acted as counsel before international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court.

As an author, Sands combines legal history, personal memory and literary nonfiction. His book “East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity” traces the origins of the legal concepts of genocide and crimes against humanity through the stories of jurists Hersch Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin, both of whom studied in Lviv, a city that forms the backdrop to much of the book. 

The book also draws on Sands’ own family history. His father was born in what is now Lithuania, while his mother came from Lviv.  His other works include “The Ratline,” “The Last Colony” and “38 Londres Street.”

Sands also has close ties to Ukraine’s literary and human rights communities.  As reported earlier, Victoria Amelina’s unfinished book “Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary” includes a public conversation with Sands held at the BookForum literary fair in Lviv. He also wrote  the foreword to Olesya Khromeychuk’s book “The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister.”

The award ceremony will take place on Oct. 11, 2026, at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. Established in 1950, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has previously been awarded to figures including Albert Schweitzer, Astrid Lindgren, Susan Sontag, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie. In 2022, Ukrainian writer Serhiy Zhadan won the prize for his literary achievements and humanitarian work during Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

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Main image: Middle Temple