Ono has always campaigned for peace and her upcoming Icelandic excursion is no different. Arriving on the island country Oct. 9, Yoko will hand out four LennonOno Grant For Peace awards to recipients deemed to have made a difference.
For example, Ono will honor Alice Walker for her stance against racism and sexism as well as for her pro-human rights activities. Walker’s book – “Overcoming Speechlessness” – documents a journey the author and 60 other female activists from anti-war group Code Pink took to Gaza to protest Israeli and Egyptian actions against the Palestinian territory.
Another recipient is filmmaker Josh Fox, who wrote and directed the documentary Gasland, which focuses on how natural gas drilling in the U.S. impacts local communities.
Author Michael Pollan is also receiving a LennonOno Grant For Peace. Known for writing books about how food and culture collide, Pollan’s latest work is “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.”
Ono will also honor food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyk. Kowalcyk began her crusade for safer eatables in 2001 when her two-year-old son died after contracting E.coli bacteria from tainted food. Kowalcyk and her mother Pat Buck created the Center For Foodborne Illness & Prevention which campaigns for safer foods.
While in Iceland Ono will also attend the annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower located on Viðey Island near Reykjavík, after which she’ll perform with the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band.
For more information, click here for the Yoko Ono website.