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Indian economist Amartya Sen wins German peace prize

June 17, 2020

Nobel prize-winning economist and philosopher Amartya Sen has won the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. The 86-year-old professor's work addresses global social injustice.

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Professor Amartya Sen, 2020 winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Mukherjee

The board of the German book trade on Wednesday announced it had awarded its prestigious peace prize to Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen.

The 86-year-old Harvard professor and past Nobel prize winner was granted the 2020 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for his "decades-long work on the question "as a questions of global justice," the board said in a statement on Twitter. 

His work is "more relevant today than ever before" in the fight against social injustice around the world, the board said. 

The award ceremony traditionally takes place at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 18 and is broadcast live on television.

The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has been awarded annually since 1950. It comes with a cash prize of €25,000 euros ($28,000).

Its aim is to honor individuals "who have made an outstanding contribution to the realization of the idea of peace primarily through his activities in the fields of literature, science and art."

Last year, the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado received the prize.

kp/rt (dpa, KNA)

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