The finalists for the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize have been announced.
Fiction:
• A Postcard from the Volcano by Lucy Beckett (Ignatius Press): Beginning in 1914 and ending on the eve of World War II, this epic coming-of-age story follows a Prussian aristocrat as he confronts the ideologies that threaten the annihilation of millions of people.
• A Good Fall by Ha Jin (Pantheon Books): In this stark and insightful collection, acclaimed writer Ha Jin depicts the struggle of Chinese immigrants in America to remain loyal to their traditions as they explore the freedom that life in a new country offers.
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Knopf): A young Ethiopian doctor is forced to flee revolution in his homeland for New York City in this enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.
• The Book of Night Women by Marlon James (Penguin Group; G. P. Putham’s Sons/Riverhead Books): Born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the end of the eighteenth century, a woman with dark, mysterious powers finds herself at the heart of a slave revolt plotted by the women around her.
• The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim (Henry Holt and Company): In early-twentieth-century Korea, the privileged daughter of a calligrapher struggles to choose her own destiny while her country crumbles under Japanese occupation.
• The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Adiche (Knopf): Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie turns her penetrating eye on both her native country and America in twelve dazzling stories that explore the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.
Nonfiction:
• Enough: Why the Worlds Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty by Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman (Public Affairs): This powerful investigative narrative shows exactly how, in the past few decades, American, British, and European policies have conspired to keep Africa hungry and unable to feed itself.
• In the Valley of the Mist by Justine Hardy (Free Press): A personal, moving, and vibrant picture of the Kashmir Valley, one of the most beautiful and troubled places in the world — described through the experiences of one family, whose fortunes have changed dramatically with those of the region.
• Stones Into Schools by Greg Mortenson (Penguin Group, USA): From the author of the #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea, the continuing story of this determined humanitarian’s efforts to promote peace in Afghanistan through education.
• Tears in the Darkness by Michael and Elizabeth Norman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux): Using the perspective of a young American soldier, this account of World War II’s Bataan death march exposes the myths of war and shows the extent of suffering and loss on both sides.
• The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe (Knopf): From the celebrated author of Things Fall Apart, a new collection of autobiographical essays—his first new book in more than twenty years
• Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s): The meticulously researched story of a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four who chose to stay in New Orleans through Hurricane Katrina and protect his house and business—but then abruptly disappeared.
To be eligible for the 2010 awards, English-language books must be published or translated into English in 2009 and address the theme of peace on a variety of levels, such as between individuals, among families and communities, or among nations, religions, or ethnic groups. A winner and runner-up in fiction and nonfiction will be announced on Sept. 22. Winners receive a $10,000 honorarium and runners-up receive $1,000.00. They will be honored at a gala ceremony hosted by award-winning journalist Nick Clooney in Dayton on Nov. 7.
Kent storyteller Guenveur Burnell has won the grand prize in the WCLV Dog Days of August Pet Poetry Contest. (Click the cat photo to see all the winning poems.)
