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The Kiriyama Prize is an international literary award given to books which will encourage greater understanding of and among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia. The prize was established in 1996. Past winners include Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin, Luis Alberto Urrea, Piers Vitebsky, Nadeem Aslam, Suketu Mehta, Shan Sa, Inga Clendinnen, Pascal Khoo Thwe, Rohinton Mistry, Patricia Grace, Peter Hessler, Michael David Kwan, Michael Ondaatje, Cheng Ch'ing-wen, Andrew X. Pham, Ruth Ozeki, Patrick Smith, and Alan Brown.

The prize is worth $30,000, split evenly between a non-fiction and a fiction winner. The prize is given by Pacific Rim Voices, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. For its first three years, the prize was given only to one book, either fiction or non-fiction.

To be eligible, a book must significantly concern some aspect of life or culture in one of the four Pacific Rim subregions: the North Pacific; Southeast Asia and the South Pacific; the Americas; and the Indian subcontinent. Books may be written in or translated into English from any other language. Books are submitted by publishers by late October each year, and are judged by separate panels of five judges, one for fiction and one for non-fiction. The decisions are made between November and February of each year. Finalists are announced at the end of February, and the prize itself is given at the end of March in each year.

Judges for the Prize have included many noted authors including Alan Cheuse, James D. Houston, Sally Ito, Gish Jen, Chalmers Johnson, Nicholas Jose, Maxine Hong Kingston, Ruthanne Lum McCunn, Lisa See, Linda Spalding, Robert Sullivan, Gail Tsukiyama, Kathleen Tyau, and Jade Snow Wong.

The 2007 prize for Fiction was awarded to Haruki Murakami for his collection of short fiction Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. According to the Kiryama Prize official website, Murakami "declined to accept the award for reasons of personal principle".

Recipients

2008

• Lloyd Jones — Mister Pip (fiction)
• Julia Whitty — The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific (nonfiction)

2007

• Haruki Murakami — Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (fiction)
• Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin — Three Cups of Tea (nonfiction)

2006

• Luís Alberto Urrea — The Hummingbird’s Daughter (fiction)
• Piers Vitebsky — The Reindeer People (nonfiction)

2005

• Nadeem Aslam — Maps for Lost Lovers (fiction)
• Suketu Mehta — Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (nonfiction)

2004

• Sa Shan — The Girl Who Played Go (fiction)
• Inga Clendinnen — Dancing with Strangers (nonfiction)

2002

• Rohinton Mistry — Family Matters (fiction)
• Pascal Khoo Thwee — From the Land of Green Ghosts (nonfiction)

2001

• Patricia Grace — Dogside Story (fiction)
• Peter Hessler — River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (nonfiction)

2000

• Michael Ondaatje — Anil's Ghost (fiction)
• Michael David Kwan — Things That Must Not Be Forgotten: A Childhood in Wartime China (nonfiction)

1999

• Cheng Ch’ing-wen — Three-Legged Horse (fiction)
• Andrew X. Pham — Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Journey through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam (nonfiction)

1998

• Ruth L. Ozeki — My Year of Meats (fiction)*

1997

• Patrick Smith — Japan: A Reinterpretation (nonfiction)*

1996

• Alan Brown — Audrey Hepburn's Neck (fiction)*

(*) Note: only one Kiriyama Prize, for fiction -or- nonfiction, was awarded in the first three years of the award, 1998, 1997, and 1996.

See also

• List of prizes, medals, and awards

External links

• Official website