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The Kiriyama PrizeCelebrating the Literary Voices of the Pacific Rim
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About the Prize
Sept. 14, 2008 — Pacific Rim Voices is grateful for the interest and recognition the Kiriyama Prize has received over the last twelve years. In its efforts to promote books that encourage greater understanding and deeper empathy among peoples, the Prize has brought many outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction to the attention of a global readership.

At the present time the Kiriyama Prize is being restructured. While this process is under way, publishers are kindly asked not to submit further entries. When a new time line and new rules are in place, entries will once again be welcome. Thank you for all your support and we look forward to working with you again.

The Kiriyama Prize The Kiriyama Prize was established in 1996 to recognize outstanding books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia that encourage greater mutual understanding of and among the peoples and nations of this vast and culturally diverse region.

For now, some sections of this website are not being updated, but we invite you to explore the previous winners and finalists for the award here, and to visit Pacific Rim Voices' other sites, WaterBridgeReview.org and PaperTigers.org. A new edition of WaterBridge was posted on September 30, 2008, and PaperTigers.org will continue to be updated according to its regular bi-monthly schedule.

Read more about the Kiriyama Prize
View our map of the pacific rim

The Kiriyama Prize is part of the PacificRimVoices family of websites. Visit our other sites:

WaterBridge ReviewPaperTigers.org

WaterBridge Review
Here you'll find reviews of recently published and forthcoming books, together with interviews, and more.

papertigers.org
For a look at books from and about the Pacific Rim and South Asia for children and young adults.


Highlights


2008 Winners

Posted April 1, 2008—We are pleased to present the winners of this year's Kiriyama Prize:

Lloyd JonesFiction
Lloyd Jones' Mister Pip is set on the South Pacific island of Bougainville, during the island's bloody secessionist clash with Papua New Guinea in the 1990's. Beautifully written and masterfully told, Mister Pip charts the ground where life and literature meet and flourish, and where they must ultimately divide.

Julia WhittyNonfiction
Julia Whitty's The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific will transport you to the other-worldly realm under the surface of the ocean and will introduce you to some of the tenacious people who live along its delicate shores. The Fragile Edge is a paean to the seas that makes us yearn to keep them safe, not only for the wildlife and people who live near or in it, but for us all.

Read more about this year's winners by clicking on the titles above or read our April 1 press release.


2008 Finalists
We hope you'll pick up both of this year's winning books, but please don't stop your Pacific Rim journey there. All of this year's finalists are engaging and insightful reads.

Fiction Finalists fiction book covers

The Complete Stories
by David Malouf
The Last Chinese Chef
by Nicole Mones
Mosquito
by Roma Tearne
I Love Dollars
by Zhu Wen, translated by Julia Lovell

Nonfiction Finalists

The Father of All Things
by Tom Bissell
East Wind Melts the Ice
by Liza Dalby
India After Gandhi
by Ramachandra Guha
The Talented Women of the Zhang Family
by Susan Mann

Read our February 26, 2008 press release announcing the finalists.



WaterBridge Review

Read full reviews of all the Kiriyama Prize finalists together with a conversation with the chairs of the judging panels on Pacific Rim Voices' WaterBridge Review.


Press inquiries about this year's finalists can be directed to the Prize manager: tel (415) 777-1628 or email jeannine(at)kiriyamaprize.org.