Nobel Peace Prize winner has an L.A. author connection *

Leymah Gbowee, one of the three women to win the Nobel Peace Prize today, is cited by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for having "mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections. She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war." Her Los Angeles connection is that Ghowee's memoir, "Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War," published last month by Beast Books, was co-written by Carol Mithers, the Mar Vista-based former LA Weekly editor and longtime contributor to the L.A. Times. The book got a starred Kirkus review and some nice blurbs. Here's a page at Good Reads and NPR.