10 Books Vie For Kiriyama Prize

Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss," winner of the Man Booker Prize last fall, was among the finalists announced Tuesday for the 11th annual Kiriyama Prize for works "that promote greater understanding of and among the nations of the Pacific Rim and of South Asia."

Books from Canada, China, Japan and elsewhere received nominations for the $30,000 prize, given to one fiction and one nonfiction author. Winners will be announced March 27.

Besides "The Inheritance of Loss," fiction finalists included Haruki Murakami's "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman," Ma Jian's "Stick Out Your Tongue," Madeleine Thien's "Certainty" and Lois-Ann Yamanaka's "Behold the Many."

The nonfiction nominees were Abigail Friedman's "The Haiku Apprentice," Ernest Hayes' "Blonde Indian," Greg Mortenson's and David Oliver Relin's "Three Cups of Tea," Ruth Padel's "Tigers in Red Weather" and John Pomfret's "Chinese Lessons."

Previous winners include Michael Ondaatje and Rohinton Mistry.