The Dayton Literary Peace Prize revealed its finalists, with 12 titles contending for the awards given to books “that have led readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.”
Percival Everett was named a finalist in the fiction category for James, his retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the point of view of the enslaved Jim. The book previously won the Kirkus Prize, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
Also shortlisted for the fiction prize were Priscilla Morris for Black Butterflies, Kaveh Akbar for Martyr!, Alejandro Puyana for Freedom Is a Feast, Kristin Hannah for The Women, and Helen Benedict for The Good Deed.
David Greenberg was shortlisted in the nonfiction category for his biography John Lewis: A Life, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Also named finalists were Sunil Amrith for The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years; Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor for Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea; Annie Jacobsen for Nuclear War: A Scenario; Lauren Markham for A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging; and Wendy Pearlman for The Home I Worked To Make: Voices From the New Syrian Diaspora.
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize was established in 2006. Previous winners include Viet Thanh Nguyen for The Sympathizer; Honorée Fanonne Jeffers for The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois; Edwidge Danticat for Brother, I’m Dying; and Chanel Miller for Know My Name.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced in September.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
