Write for Peace is a collection of short stories written by South Sudanese youth which offer powerful counter-narratives to inter-communal divisions and biases. The stories were inspired by the  authors'  experiences growing up amid prejudice and conflict, with their messages designed to promote peace and encourage critical thinking.
 

The five stories in this publication were selected from a wide pool of submissions, all written as part of the Write for Peace Competition held in Summer 2020. This competition complemented a week of online workshops exploring identity-based biases and stereotyping alongside creative writing and storytelling. They were co-led by Mariana Goetz, founder of Rights for Peace, and Alith Cyer Mayar, who is a writer, poet and founder of the Writers’ Writing Fellowship in South Sudan.
 

Youth make up the biggest demographic in the young country and the lessons in this storybook set them in good stead to be future leaders promoting positive skills and values such as openness, tolerance, respect, empathy, solidarity, trust and unity.
 

The book provides a literacy resource to counter prejudice and hate. It also includes discussion questions and group exercises to engage young people in developing the key skills necessary to build the united and peaceful nation our authors yearn for.

​

Rights for Peace would like to thank South Sudan Peace and Development Organisation (SSYPADO) for their collaboration, as well as LUSH and DFID for providing the grants which funded this project.

 

Read more about Write for Peace and the young writers here!