To encourage original, creative, and courageous writing General Statement by the Members of the Jury:This year’s finalists for the Moore Prize are a diverse set of books that attest, individually and collectively, to the resilience of the human spirit and value of human dignity when these are most imperiled. Our imaginations are challenged and our capacities for empathy and sympathy enlarged in unexpected ways by reading these imaginative and ambitious writers. Five non-fiction titles have been short-listed for consideration for the 2019 Moore Prize, representing a wide selection of human rightsRead More

A Christmas Day Truce 2017 By Christopher G. Moore Swimming pools of ink have been emptied in the discussions of the intense verbal warfare in America about politics as the president fires tweets like a machine-gunner at a wide range of enemies. In all of these dramatic battles, there’s not been much discussion about a central question that defines our humanity: have we loss our sense of empathy? Exactly what makes empathy a desirable trait? I recently read an interview with Nick Bostrom, Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy atRead More

PRESS RELEASE – For release 1st December 2017 Fiction Award to Recognise Writing on Human Rights The Christopher G. Moore Foundation is pleased to announce that submissions are open for the Moore Prize 2018 to honour fiction that contributes to the awareness, understanding and supports the universality of human rights. This unique initiative is awarded annually, as chosen by a panel of judges whose own work focuses on human rights. The inaugural 2017 Moore Prize (short list: here) was awarded to Anjan Sundaram for his non-fiction book titled Bad News.Read More

Ethnocracy By Christopher G. Moore For a definition of ethnocracy Wikipedia provides: „An ethnocracy is a type of political structure in which the state apparatus is appropriated by a dominant ethnic group (or groups) to further its interests, power and resources. Ethnocratic regimes typically display a combination of ‚thin‘ democratic facade covering a more profound ethnic structure, in which ethnicity (or race, or Religion) – and not citizenship – is the key to securing power and resources. An ethnocratic society facilitates the ethnicization of the state by the dominant group,Read More

The Headlock of Kinship By Christopher G. Moore Archeological finds coupled with better techniques of carbon dating have pushed back the origins of our species to nearly 300,000 years. The environment in which humans evolved favoured family groups as a cohesive, cooperative unit for food gathering and protection against predators. Complaining about your uncle, grandmother or nephew being idle or incompetent wasn’t going to help. The whole group was interconnected. They stuck together because they had no other choice. And remember, for hundreds of thousands of years, hominids lived inRead More

  Christopher G. Moore – unser Mann in Bangkok – ist nicht nur mit seinen Calvino-Romanen ein wichtiger Schriftsteller, sondern auch ein politisch und sozial engagierter Mensch.  Deswegen hat er jetzt einen Preis gestiftet. Alle Titel auf der Shortlist sind einiger Aufmerksamkeit wert:  2017 Moore Prize – Non-fiction Short-list  Human rights and freedom of expression have come under siege by powerful political forces in many parts of the world. The gains of the past may unravel and reverse. In this environment, the Christopher G. Moore Foundation will be awarding aRead More

Creative Lawyers and Judges By Christopher G. Moore Most writers are asked about their prior jobs. When I say my job was a law professor and lawyer, they follow up by asking whether law training helps or hurts you as a novelist. The creative aspects of law practice before a judge features in this excellent article by Maksymilian Del Mar: The Legal Imagination. Having been on both sides of two creative cultures, and that has given me a slightly different perspective from Del Mar. Here are my thoughts. Lawyers (specifically trialRead More