Dayton Peace Prize

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation was established to advance peace through literature. Nominated works should focus on peace:

• increasing understanding between and among people as individuals or within and between families, communities, nations, ethnic groups, cultures and religions. Works should have enduring literary value and should appeal to a variety of audiences.

Nominated works should characterize peace as:

• ending or seeking to end conflict—personal, national or international,
• establishing concord between and among people, or
• showing consequences of persons, nations or institutions recklessly disrupting personal harmony or universal accord.

2012 Winner

• The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak (4 stars)

2012 Runner-up

• Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin

2012 Finalists

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (4 stars)
• Shards by Ismet Prcic
• The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (3.5 stars)

2011 Winner

• The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee

2011 Runner-up

• Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste

2011 Finalists

• How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
• The Gendarme by Mark Mustian
• Kapitoil by Teddy Wayne

2010 Winner

• The Book of Night Women by Marlon James

2010 Runner-up

• The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2010 Finalists

• A Postcard from the Volcano by Lucy Beckett
• A Good Fall by Ha Jin
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim

2009 Winner

• Peace by Richard Bausch

2009 Runner-up

• Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan 

2009 Finalists

• The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
• Beijing Coma by Ma Jian
• Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner
• Song Yet Sung by James McBride

2008 Winner

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (4 stars)

2008 Runner-up

• Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon

2008 Finalists

• Coal Black Horses by Robert Olmstead
• The Ocean in the Closet by Yoko Taniguchi
• Song for Night by Chris Abani

2007 Winner

• Birds in Fall by Brad Kessler

2007 Runner-up

• Skinner's Drift by Lisa Fugard

2006 Winner

• A Changed Man by Francine Prose

2006 Runner-up

• The Discontinuity of Small Things by Kevin Haworth