Dayton Literary Peace Prize (2006-2009)

from Dayton Literary Peace Prize, accessed 08/28/09.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize honors writers whose work uses the power of literature to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding. Launched in 2006, it has already established itself as one of the world’s most prestigious literary honors, and is the only literary peace prize awarded in the United States. As an offshoot of the Dayton Peace Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize awards a $10,000 cash prize each year to one fiction and one nonfiction author whose work addresses themes of peace as a solution to conflict, and leads readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view. An annual lifetime achievement award is also bestowed upon a writer whose body of work reflects the Prize's mission; previous honorees included Taylor Branch, Studs Terkel and Elie Wiesel.

2010 Finalists:
Fiction
A Postcard from the Volcano by Lucy Beckett
A Good Fall by Ha Jin
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Adiche

Nonfiction
Enough: Why the Worlds Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty by Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman
In the Valley of the Mist by Justine Hardy
Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson
Tears in the Darkness by Michael and Elizabeth Norman
The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Winners will be honored at a ceremony in Dayton, Ohio, on November 7.

The 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize fiction finalists are:

Runner-up! * Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
WINNER! * Peace by Richard Bausch
* The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
* Beijing Coma by Ma Jian (
* Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner
* Song Yet Sung by James McBride

The 2009 nonfiction finalists are:
* Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization by Nicholson Baker 
* Dust from our Eyes: An Unblinkered Look at Africa by Joan Baxter
Runner-up! * Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman (
* Writing in the Dark by David Grossman
* My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for his Father’s Past by Ariel Sabar
WINNER! * A Crime So Monstrous: Face to Face with Modern Day Slavery by Benjamin Skinner
* The Great Experiment by Strobe Talbott

2008
Lifetime Achievement Award Taylor Branch
Fiction Award Junot Díaz for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Nonfiction Award Edwidge Danticat for Brother, I’m Dying
Fiction Runner-up Daniel Alarcón for Lost City Radio
Nonfiction Runner-up Cullen Murphy for Are We Rome?

2007
Lifetime Achievement Award Elie Weisel
Fiction Award Brad Kessler for Birds in Fall
Nonfiction Award Mark Kurlansky for Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea
Fiction Runner-up Lisa Fugard for Skinner’s Drift
Nonfiction Runner-up David Relin and Greg Mortenson for Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

2006
Lifetime Achievement Award Studs Terkel
Fiction Award Francine Prose for A Changed Man
Nonfiction Award Stephen Walker for Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima
Fiction Runner-up Kevin Haworth for The Discontinuity of Small Things
Nonfiction Runner-up Adam Hochschild for Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves