While in England, Kazantzakis planned to meet leading intellectuals and artists to discuss post-war problems relating to culture. In September 1946 these meetings gave rise to his appeal to intellectuals the world over to found an “Internationale of the Spirit”, reflecting international concern in the wake of the bombing of Hiroshima.

At the same time he was invited interviewed on BBC radio, following an invitation from Michalis Cacoyiannis. He spoke on George Bernard Shaw (then celebrating his ninetieth birthday), also referring to Angelos Sikelianos and his nomination for the Nobel Prize for Literature, and calling on intellectuals worldwide to work together in the service of peace and the restoration of humanitarian values in the wake of the horrors of war. 

Recognition of his peace work came in the form of the Peace Prize awarded to him in Vienna in 1956.