Here are the winners of the 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
LITERARY HUB
SEPTEMBER 17, 2026
Today, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation, which celebrates “writers whose work demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace,” announced the winners of the 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize (for books published in 2025).
For fiction, the winner is The Sunflower Boys** by Sam Wachman**; the runner-up is **Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore**.
The nonfiction winner is Kevin Sack’s Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church; the runner-up is Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing.
The winners will each receive a $10,000 cash award, and the runners-up will take home $5,000.
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I have read all of these but the Eve Ewing. I am so happy to see The Sunflower Boys getting some love. It was a favorite book for me and is bringing more attention to the war in Ukraine.
Mother Emanuel is a fascinating look at AME and the church where the horrible massacre occurred.
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Appreciate the post, Anne. I like McConaghy’s writing but don’t quite get the connection of that book to the category of the Prize - the power of the written word to foster peace. What do you think, any insights? I’ve looked over The Sunflower Boys synopsis which definitely seems spot on and one I will be looking into.
Well, let me give it try. McConaghy’s book was about climate disaster and the seed vault was on the island. I suspect that is probably enough to get included. There may be other factors that I no longer recall since it’s been quite a long time since I read it.
Please keep me posted if you read Sunflower Boys. I hope it is a winner for you.
And since you inspired me I looked it up to see what the judges said about WDS:
A New York Times bestseller, Wild Dark Shore follows the Salt family, who are the last remaining caretakers of the seed bank on the remote island of Shearwater. As rising sea levels force them into relocation, their world is upended when a mysterious woman washes ashore asking a few too many questions. A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.