“The Sympathizer” is the debut novel by Vietnamese-American Viet Thanh Nguyen. It had already won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
In the non-fiction category, Susan Southard’s “Nagasaki” is the result of over a decade of interviewing survivors, historians and others about the last impact of nuclear war.
“This year’s winners remind us that the effects of war reverberate many years and often many generations after treaties are signed,” said Sharon Rab, founder and co-chair of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation. “Together, these stories by Viet Thanh Nguyen and Susan Southard offer cautionary tales but also guideposts to lead us toward a greater understanding of those who are originally seen as enemies.”
This year’s runners-up are James Hannahams’ novel “Delicious Foods,” about addiction and redemption, and Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner Odede’s autobiographical love story “Find Me Unafraid.”
Inspired by the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize was launched in 2006. It is the only literary peace prize awarded in the United States Winners will be honored at a sold-outgala ceremony hosted by award-winning journalist Nick Clooney in Dayton on Nov. 20. A conversation with the authors is also planned for Nov. 20 and will be open to the public.
>> RELATED: Finalists for the 2016 Dayton Literary Peace Prize