Dayton Literary Peace Prizes honor wartime Ukraine novel and Charleston church history

The Dayton Literary Peace Prizes have announced the winners of this year's awards, recognizing a coming-of-age novel set in wartime Ukraine and a book detailing the history of a Black church in South Carolina.

Sam Wachman's debut novel, "The Sunflower Boys," received the fiction prize. The book centers on two brothers forced to fend for themselves after their home is bombed by Russian forces. Kevin Sack's "Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church" earned the nonfiction prize, chronicling the history of the Mother Emanuel AME Church through slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and the 2015 shooting that claimed nine lives within its walls.

Each winner in the fiction and nonfiction categories will receive $10,000. Runners-up Charlotte McConaghy for "Wild Dark Shore" and Eve L. Ewing for "Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism" will each receive $5,000.

Ann Patchett, author of "Bel Canto," was previously announced as the recipient of a lifetime achievement award.

"Year after year, our community and judges seek out and find four extraordinarily powerful books that center a story that promotes peace and understanding in a world where those ideals continue to feel more foreign with each passing year," said Foundation Executive Director Nicholas A. Raines in a statement. "These four books each offer something unique to readers that we hope will continue to inspire and teach for many years to come."

The Dayton Literary Peace Prizes were established in 2006 with the goal of celebrating writers whose work promotes peace, social justice, and global understanding. Previous recipients include Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alice Hoffman, and Junot Diaz.