Kiriyama Prize
Encyclopedia
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, and was last awarded in 2008.
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.
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.
2007
The 2007 prize for Fiction, awarded to Haruki Murakami, was declined by Murakami "for reasons of personal principle"
2006
2005
2004
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
(*) Note: only one Kiriyama Prize, for fiction -or- nonfiction, was awarded in the first three years of the award, 1998, 1997, and 1996.
Literary award
A literary award is an award presented to an author who has written a particularly lauded piece or body of work. There are awards for forms of writing ranging from poetry to novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing . There are also awards...
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, and was last awarded in 2008.
Past winners include Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin, Luis Alberto Urrea, Piers Vitebsky
Piers Vitebsky
Piers Vitebsky is an anthropologist and is the Head of Social Science at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, England.Since the 1980s, Vitebsky has carried out fieldwork with the Evens of Siberia, and other peoples of India and Sri Lanka.Vitebsky won the Kiriyama Prize.He...
, Nadeem Aslam, Suketu Mehta
Suketu Mehta
Suketu Mehta is a writer based in New York City. He was born in Kolkata, India, and raised in Bombay where he lived until his family moved to the New York area in 1977. He has attended New York University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.His autobiographical account of his experiences...
, Shan Sa, Inga Clendinnen
Inga Clendinnen
Inga Vivienne Clendinnen AO is an Australian author and historian, anthropologist and academic.-Life and career:Born in Geelong, Victoria, Clendinnen graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1955 with a BA...
, Pascal Khoo Thwe, Rohinton Mistry
Rohinton Mistry
Rohinton Mistry is an Indian-born Canadian writer in English. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Mistry is of Indian origin, originally from Mumbai, Zoroastrian and belongs to the Parsi community. Mistry is a Neustadt International Prize for Literature laureate .-Biography:Rohinton Mistry was...
, Patricia Grace, Peter Hessler
Peter Hessler
Peter Hessler is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of three acclaimed books about China and has contributed numerous articles to The New Yorker and National Geographic, among other publications...
, Michael David Kwan, Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
, Cheng Ch'ing-wen, Andrew X. Pham
Andrew X. Pham
trained and graduated from UCLA as an aerospace engineer. He worked at United Airlines as an aircraft engineer before switching career to become a writer while pursuing dual graduate degrees, M.B.A and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, specializing in orbital debris...
, Ruth Ozeki
Ruth Ozeki
Ruth Ozeki is a Canadian-American novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She worked in commercial television and media production for over a decade and made several independent films before turning to writing fiction.-Life:...
, Patrick Smith, and Alan Brown.
Prize
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
Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Ruthanne Lum McCunn is an American novelist and editor of Chinese and Scottish descent.-Life:She was raised in Hong Kong.She graduated from University of Texas, in 1968....
, Lisa See, Linda Spalding, Robert Sullivan, Gail Tsukiyama, Kathleen Tyau, and Jade Snow Wong.
Recipients
2008- Lloyd JonesLloyd Jones (New Zealand author)Lloyd Jones is a New Zealand author who currently resides in Wellington. His novel Mister Pip won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker.-Early life and education:...
— Mister PipMister PipMister Pip is a novel by Lloyd Jones, a New Zealand author. It is named after a character in, and shaped by the plot of, Charles Dickens's novel Great Expectations....
(fiction) - Julia Whitty — The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific (nonfiction)
2007
The 2007 prize for Fiction, awarded to Haruki Murakami, was declined by Murakami "for reasons of personal principle"
- Haruki MurakamiHaruki Murakamiis a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
— Blind Willow, Sleeping WomanBlind Willow, Sleeping WomanBlind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a collection of short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami....
(fiction) - Greg MortensonGreg MortensonGreg Mortenson, SPk is an American humanitarian, professional speaker, writer, and former mountaineer. He is the co-founder and executive director of the non-profit Central Asia Institute as well as the founder of the educational charity Pennies for Peace...
and David Oliver RelinDavid Oliver RelinDavid Oliver Relin is the co-author of the New York Times bestelling book, Three Cups of Tea, published in 2006. Relin co-wrote the book with Greg Mortenson as Mortenson told the story of his transition from a registered nurse and mountain-climber to a humanitarian committed to reducing poverty and...
— Three Cups of TeaThree Cups of TeaThree Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time is a book by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin published by Penguin in 2006. For four years, the book remained on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller's list...
(nonfiction)
2006
- Luís Alberto UrreaLuís Alberto UrreaLuís Alberto Urrea is a Mexican American poet, novelist, and essayist.-Life:Urrea is the son of a Mexican father and an American mother...
— The Hummingbird’s Daughter (fiction) - Piers VitebskyPiers VitebskyPiers Vitebsky is an anthropologist and is the Head of Social Science at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, England.Since the 1980s, Vitebsky has carried out fieldwork with the Evens of Siberia, and other peoples of India and Sri Lanka.Vitebsky won the Kiriyama Prize.He...
— The Reindeer People (nonfiction)
2005
- Nadeem AslamNadeem AslamNadeem Aslam is a prize-winning British Pakistani novelist.-Biography:Aslam moved with his family to England aged 14, when his father, a Communist, fled President Zia's regime. The family settled in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire...
— Maps for Lost LoversMaps for Lost LoversMaps for Lost Lovers is a novel by the British Pakistani writer Nadeem Aslam. Ostensibly about the murder of a pair of lovers, the book is in fact a minute dissection of working-class Pakistani immigrant communities that have settled in the north of England over the last 40 years.Aslam spent 11...
(fiction) - Suketu MehtaSuketu MehtaSuketu Mehta is a writer based in New York City. He was born in Kolkata, India, and raised in Bombay where he lived until his family moved to the New York area in 1977. He has attended New York University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.His autobiographical account of his experiences...
— Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found (nonfiction)
2004
- Sa Shan — The Girl Who Played Go (fiction)
- Inga ClendinnenInga ClendinnenInga Vivienne Clendinnen AO is an Australian author and historian, anthropologist and academic.-Life and career:Born in Geelong, Victoria, Clendinnen graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1955 with a BA...
— Dancing with Strangers (nonfiction)
2002
- Rohinton MistryRohinton MistryRohinton Mistry is an Indian-born Canadian writer in English. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, Mistry is of Indian origin, originally from Mumbai, Zoroastrian and belongs to the Parsi community. Mistry is a Neustadt International Prize for Literature laureate .-Biography:Rohinton Mistry was...
— Family Matters (fiction) - Pascal Khoo ThwePascal Khoo ThwePascal Khoo Thwe is a Burmese author from the minority Padaung people, known for his autobiographic writings about growing up in Burma under military rule. His book, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, was awarded the Kiriyama Prize-Life:Thwe was born in Pekon , Shan State, Burma...
— From the Land of Green Ghosts (nonfiction)
2001
- Patricia GracePatricia GracePatricia Frances Grace, DCNZM, QSO, is a notable Māori writer of novels, short stories, and children's books....
— Dogside Story (fiction) - Peter HesslerPeter HesslerPeter Hessler is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of three acclaimed books about China and has contributed numerous articles to The New Yorker and National Geographic, among other publications...
— River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (nonfiction)
2000
- Michael OndaatjeMichael OndaatjePhilip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
— Anil's GhostAnil's GhostAnil’s Ghost is the critically acclaimed fourth novel by Michael Ondaatje. It was first published in 2000 by McClelland and Stewart.Anil’s Ghost follows the life of Anil Tissera, a native Sri Lankan who left to study in the United States on a scholarship, during which time she has become a forensic...
(fiction) - Michael David KwanMichael David KwanMichael David Kwan is the author of Things That Must Not Be Forgotten, which has won the Kiriyama Prize, as well as three other books.- References :...
— Things That Must Not Be Forgotten: A Childhood in Wartime China (nonfiction)
1999
- Cheng Ch’ing-wen — Three-Legged Horse (fiction)
- Andrew X. PhamAndrew X. Phamtrained and graduated from UCLA as an aerospace engineer. He worked at United Airlines as an aircraft engineer before switching career to become a writer while pursuing dual graduate degrees, M.B.A and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, specializing in orbital debris...
— Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Journey through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam (nonfiction)
1998
- Ruth L. OzekiRuth OzekiRuth Ozeki is a Canadian-American novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She worked in commercial television and media production for over a decade and made several independent films before turning to writing fiction.-Life:...
— My Year of MeatsMy Year of MeatsMy Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki was written as somewhat of a documentary. The book takes advantage of the differences between Japanese and American culture to comment on both.- Overview :...
(fiction)*
1997
- Patrick SmithPatrick SmithPatrick Smith is the name of:* Patrick Smith , also known as "Paddy Smith", an Irish politician who served in Dáil Éireann* Patrick Smith , Australian sports journalist who writes for The Australian...
— Japan: A Reinterpretation (nonfiction)*
1996
- Alan BrownAlan Brown (filmmaker)-Movies:Brown's first film, the half-hour narrative O Beautiful, won the Future Filmmaker Award at the 2002 Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, and was an official selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival...
— 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.