Names and faces

■ Dayton Literary Peace Prize officials announced Monday that author Margaret Atwood is this year’s winner of a lifetime achievement award that celebrates literature’s power to foster peace, social justice and global understanding. The Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award is named for the late U.S. diplomat who brokered the 1995 Bosnian peace accords reached in the Ohio city. Atwood — a prolific writer of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays, comic books and, as of late, tweets — in recent years has drawn a new round of acclaim for her best-selling 1985 novel of a dystopian future in which women are subjugated after an overthrow of the U.S. government. Some readers of “The Handmaid’s Tale” saw in the leaders of authoritarian Gilead similarities to the rise of Donald Trump to president in the 2016 election. The television adaptation on Hulu starring Elisabeth Moss generated yet more commentary, and women dressed in red cloaks and white bonnets, as the handmaids were depicted in the book and TV series, have shown up at political demonstrations. Sharon Rab, the founder and chairwoman of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation, praised Atwood for popular success with writing that also educates people about pressing social justice and environmental concerns. “Margaret Atwood continues to remind us that ‘It can’t happen here’ cannot be depended upon; anything can happen anywhere given the right circumstances, and right now, with scorn for democratic institutions on the rise, her lessons are more vital than ever,” Rab wrote in an email. While not all books are conducive to peace and understanding, Atwood said, fiction can help people “learn what it is to be a person different from ourselves, so that might cause you to have more empathy with people who aren’t exactly like you.”

■ Country-turned-pop star Taylor Swift is returning to her roots with a performance at this year’s Academy of Country Music Awards. The nine-time ACM award winner will perform from the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn., where the awards show will be broadcast today on CBS. Swift will perform “betty” from her new album “Folklore,” which has held the top spot for six weeks on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. The song, which is being played on country radio stations, has reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot Country song chart. This marks the first time in seven years that the two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year has performed at this awards show and will be her world premiere performance for any song from her “Folklore” album. Other performers scheduled for the show include Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Maren Morris, Blake Shelton with Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay.

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