And the Award Goes to... Penguin Group (USA) Weekly Update - 8/24

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Riverhead Author James McBride Named Finalist for 2009 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction 

Earlier this week, James McBride, Riverhead author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Color of Water and Miracle at St. Anna, was announced as a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for fiction for his latest novel, Song Yet Sung. A haunting story of a runaway slave and a determined slave-catcher in pre-Civil War Maryland, Song Yet Sung explores the moral choices faced by both blacks and whites and the meaning of freedom.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize honors writers whose work uses the power of literature to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding. Launched in 2006, it has already established itself as one of the world’s most prestigious literary honors, and is the only literary peace prize awarded in the United States. As an offshoot of the Dayton Peace Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize awards a $10,000 cash prize each year to one fiction and one nonfiction author whose work advances peace as a solution to conflict, and leads readers to a better understanding of other cultures, peoples, religions, and political points of view.

McBride is one of six fiction finalists who will be reviewed by a panel of prominent writers, including Gerald Early, Cullen Murphy, Gordon Lish, and Katherine Vaz. A winner and runner-up in fiction and nonfiction will be announced on September 22nd.

Last year's fiction prize went to another Riverhead author, Junot Díaz, who picked up the award for his Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Read an excerpt from Song Yet Sung, an interview and listen to a podcast with author James McBride.