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FOR RELEASE ON: February 24, 2004
2004 KIRIYAMA PRIZE FINALISTS ANNOUNCED SAN FRANCISCO (February 24, 2004) – Pacific Rim Voices announced today the finalists for the 2004 Kiriyama Prize, now being awarded for the eighth time. Two Prize-winners, one for fiction and one for nonfiction, will be named on March 23, 2004. The winners will share equally the US $30,000 cash prize. Among the five fiction finalists are a Nepalese-American author with his first published novel; previous winners and finalists of the U.K.’s Man Booker Prize and the U.S. National Book Award; and a young Chinese novelist, now living in France, whose award-winning work is available for the first time in English. Commenting on the fiction list, author and historian Patrick Hatcher, chair of the fiction panel, noted: "These five unique books are linked, first of all, because they represent good writing, the kind of literature that is a pleasure to read. In keeping with the spirit of the prize, the judges discovered novels that go beyond national boundaries and examine universal themes in human relationships - among them, love, marriage, family, alienation, betrayal, loss - with references to larger cultural, political, and historical issues." Former publisher, editor, and nonfiction panel chair Elisa Miller described the nonfiction books – which include work by scholars, historians, memoirists, and one debut author – as “closing the gap between understanding and mis—understanding.” Prize Manager Jeannine Cuevas added: “The judges considered a record number of submissions this year and arrived at a selection of finalists that sheds light on cultures in India, Australia, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Malaysia, and Russia. The high number of entries reflects a growing recognition of the need for books that help people to understand one another and to appreciate cultures other than their own." The list of finalists follows the body of this release, and additional information on the authors and their work can be found at the Kiriyama Prize website, www.kiriyamaprize.org. The Kiriyama Prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding books that promote greater understanding of and among the nations of the Pacific Rim (East and Southeast Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, the United States, and the Pacific-bordering nations of Latin America) and of the South Asian subcontinent. Authors from anywhere in the world are eligible, provided that their work is written in English or translated into English, and that it relates to the nations of the Pacific Rim or South Asia in a significant way. Past finalists and winners include Sherman Alexie, Cheng Ch’ing-wen, Carlos Fuentes, Patricia Grace, Ha Jin, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje, Ruth L. Ozeki, Elena Poniatowska, Kerri Sakamoto, Pascal Khoo Thwe, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Simon Winchester, and Tim Winton. Pacific Rim Voices, sponsor of the Kiriyama Prize, continues to develop a family of projects celebrating literature from and about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Recognizing the importance of instilling in young people an appreciation and respect for other cultures, the organization also sponsors PaperTigers.org, a website offering a lively, colorful presentation of children’s and young adults’ books and featuring reviews, interviews, and a virtual gallery of picture book illustrations. For more information about the Kiriyama Prize and the 2004 finalists, visit www.kiriyamaprize.org, or contact Jeannine Cuevas, Prize Manager, at 415/777-1628 or via email admin@kiriyamaprize.org .
FICTION: Five finalists out of 200 eligible entries Brick Lane My Life as a Fake The Great Fire The Girl Who Played
Go NONFICTION: Five finalists out of 203 eligible entries Dancing with Strangers Secrets and Spies: The Harbin Files Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization
of Aesthetics in Japanese History Brief descriptions of the finalists follow: Brick Lane by Monica Ali Author Monica Ali, who was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in England, was named one of the 20 best young British writers by Granta. Brick Lane was also a finalist for the UK's prestigious Man Booker Prize. My Life as A Fake by Peter Carey Peter Carey is a two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize for The True History of the Kelly Gang and for Oscar and Lucinda. He is the author of seven previous novels and a collection of stories. He was born in Australia in 1943 and now lives in New York City. The
Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard The Great Fire is Shirley Hazzard’s first published novel in more than 20 years. Born in Australia, she traveled the world during her early years, a result of her parents’ diplomatic postings. In 1947, at the age of 16, she was engaged by British intelligence to monitor the civil war in China. The Great Fire received the 2003 National Book Award for Fiction. Hazzard is the author of five other works of fiction including National Book Critics Circle Award winner The Transit of Venus and three books of nonfiction. She lives in New York. The Girl Who Played Go by Shan Sa, translated
by Adriana Hunter Author Shan Sa was born in 1972 in Beijing. In 1990 she left China for France, where she studied in Paris and worked for two years with the painter Balthus. Her two previous novels were awarded the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman and Prix Cazes. This is the first of her works to be translated into English. The Guru of Love by Samrat
Upadhyay Samrat Upadhyay, born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, came to the United States at age 21. His fiction has appeared in the Best American Short Stories, and his first book of short stories – Arresting God in Kathmandu – earned him a 2001 Whiting Award. Upadhyay teaches creative writing at Indiana University. NONFICTION: Dancing with Strangers: Sydney 1788-1800 by Inga
Clendinnen Inga Clendinnen is also the author of Reading the Holocaust, a New York Times Best Book of the Year in 1999 and winner of the New South Wales Premier’s General History Award. Her 1999 ABC Boyer Lectures, True Stories, were published in 2000, as was her award-winning memoir Tiger’s Eye. She lectured for many years in the La Trobe University History Department, Melbourne, and now lives in Townsville, Australia. White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth
Century India by William Dalrymple William Dalrymple is the author of the acclaimed British bestseller In Xanadu. He also wrote City of Djinns, From the Holy Mountain, and a collection of essays on India – The Age of Kali. At present, he divides his time between London and Delhi. Out of God's
Oven: Travels in a Fractured Land by Dom Moraes and Sarayu Srivatsa
The coauthors are poet and journalist Dom Moraes and editor and journalist Sarayu Srivatsa. Moraes has published the award-winning A Beginning, and nine other collections of poetry, as well as 23 prose books, including the biography Mrs. Ghandi. Srivatsa was editor of Indian Architect and Builder and published the book Where the Streets Lead in 1997. Both writers now live in Mumbai, India. Secrets
and Spies: The Harbin Files by Mara Moustafine Bilingual in Russian and English, Moustafine holds a Masters in International Relations from the Australian National University. She has worked as a diplomat, intelligence analyst, journalist, and senior business executive in Australia and Asia. Kamikaze, Cherry
Blossoms, and Nationalisms: The Militarization of Aesthetics in
Japanese History by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney is the William F. Vilas Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is the author of a number of books in English and Japanese, most recently Rice as Self: Japanese Identities Through Time; The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual; and Illness and Culture in Contemporary Japan. ### Media Contacts: United
Kingdom and India: Australia, Canada and elsewhere:
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