Author Peter Michael, Publisher of Underground Railroad Free Press, has been awarded the 2023 eLit Bronze Medal in Biography for his book First Explorer on the life of of the Swiss humanitarian Frantz Michel who in 1704 was the first to explore beyond the Atlantic coast and in the early 1700s resettled thousands of European religious and war refugees to America in colonies that he had created for them. http://firstexplorer.us Free Press is the book’s publisher.
The prize was awarded for the book's revealing one of the most under-told of American heroic stories.
The lasting legacy of the young foresighted adventurer is his opening a new continent, joining it to an older one, and moving thousands from one to the other, delivering them unto opportunity, religious freedom, and peace that they had not had where they were coming from.
Realizing this took a grand vision as broad as anyone's of his era, superior execution to pull it off, and the heart of a great humanitarian to drive it all. Vision, ability to deliver, and heart Michel all had in large measure in addition to being British America's first great explorer.
All in a decade, Michel created an organization of refugee rescue and relocation on a scale never before conceived, founded six friendly American colonies to receive refugees, and arranged their transport to the distant new continent by a public-private partnership far ahead of its time. What he created took on a permanent life of its own in the eighteenth century and evolved into the United States Federal Refugee Resettlement Program highly active today.
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Established in 1996, the eLit Book Awards are given annually to honor the year's best published titles. All independent, university, small press, self-publishers, and readers are eligible to nominate titles copyrighted or released within the year. In contrast to the Pulitzer Prizes, which award annual book prizes in only five categories, the eLit prizes are awarded in more than 75, vastly expanding the opportunity for first-rate writing to be recognized.
After Peter Michael's first literary prize in college, three of his books have gained national prizes before First Explorer. Browse them at http://peterhmichael.com.
Congrats, Peter