The Sunflower Boys Wins the 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction

Sam Wachman’s debut novel The Sunflower Boys has won the 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction, giving the acclaimed coming-of-age story one of the most meaningful literary honors in the United States.

The novel follows two young brothers trying to survive after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine destroys their home and separates them from their family. At the center of the story is 12-year-old Artem, who is also struggling to understand his feelings for his best friend as the familiar world around him collapses.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize officially named The Sunflower Boys its 2026 fiction winner on September 17. Wachman will receive a $10,000 prize, while Charlotte McConaghy earned the fiction runner-up honor for Wild Dark Shore and will receive $5,000.

This is a major achievement for any writer, but it is particularly notable because The Sunflower Boys is Wachman’s first novel. The award also gives new visibility to a story that approaches the ongoing war in Ukraine through the intimate experiences of children rather than military strategy or political analysis.

Why The Sunflower Boys Won the 2026 Fiction Prize

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize recognizes books that use literature to advance peace, social justice and greater understanding between people. The Sunflower Boys is closely aligned with that mission.

Before the war reaches him, Artem lives with his family in Chernihiv, Ukraine. He helps on his grandfather’s sunflower farm, draws in a sketchbook given to him by his father and spends time with his younger brother, Yuri. His father is working in the United States, and Artem privately worries about his growing romantic feelings for his best friend, Viktor.

That ordinary life ends when explosions wake Artem and Yuri during the night. Their home is destroyed, their mother is killed and the brothers are left to survive on their own. Carrying little more than their backpacks, they begin a dangerous journey across Ukraine in the hope of reuniting with their father.

The premise makes the enormous scale of war personal. Instead of treating Ukraine as a distant battleground, the novel asks readers to see what an invasion means for one child, one sibling relationship and one family.

That perspective is what makes The Sunflower Boys such a natural recipient of the Dayton prize. The book does not merely depict violence. It explores the lives threatened by violence and shows how love, identity, loyalty and hope persist in circumstances designed to destroy them.

In announcing the winners, Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation Executive Director Nicholas A. Raines said the honored books tell stories that promote peace and understanding at a time when those ideals can seem increasingly distant. He added that the four winning and runner-up books offer readers something capable of inspiring and teaching for years to come, according to the Associated Press.

What Is The Sunflower Boys About?

The Sunflower Boys is both a war novel and a queer coming-of-age story.

Artem is already caught between the person he is and the person he believes his community will permit him to become. His feelings for Viktor are deeply personal, but they also create fear in a place where he believes love between boys cannot be openly accepted.

The invasion then forces him into a different kind of crisis. Artem must grow up almost immediately as he becomes responsible for keeping Yuri alive. Childhood uncertainty gives way to hunger, grief, displacement and the constant threat of death.

These two parts of Artem’s story are inseparable. His journey is not only about escaping a war zone; it is about protecting the parts of himself that war, prejudice and fear could erase. The novel’s focus on brotherhood gives the story its emotional foundation, while Artem’s inner life makes survival mean more than simply remaining alive.

HarperCollins describes the book as an exploration of young queer love, the Ukrainian spirit and one family’s struggle to survive. That combination allows the novel to speak to several forms of vulnerability without reducing Artem to any one of them.

Who Is Sam Wachman?

Sam Wachman is a writer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, with Ukrainian roots. His short fiction has appeared in Sonora Review, Berkeley Fiction Review and New England Review.

Wachman also had direct experience with Ukrainian communities before writing the novel. According to his official Dayton Literary Peace Prize biography, he taught English to primary school students in central Ukraine and worked with refugee families in Europe and the United States.

That background is important to understanding the novel’s focus. The Sunflower Boys is fiction, but it is shaped by attention to the human consequences of war and displacement. Wachman concentrates on the routines, relationships and private hopes that are shattered when conflict enters ordinary life.

The book was published by HarperCollins in 2025 and quickly attracted significant critical attention. Its 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize victory now places Wachman alongside an accomplished group of previous fiction winners that includes Viet Thanh Nguyen, Alice Hoffman, Paul Lynch and Kaveh Akbar.

Wild Dark Shore Named the 2026 Fiction Runner-Up

Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore was named the fiction runner-up.

The novel follows the Salt family, the remaining caretakers of a seed bank on the isolated island of Shearwater. As rising seas force the family to prepare for evacuation, a mysterious woman washes ashore and unsettles the fragile world they have tried to preserve.

Like The Sunflower Boys, McConaghy’s novel examines what people will do to protect those they love while the world around them is disappearing. The two books approach crisis from different directions, war in one and environmental collapse in the other, but both turn global threats into intimate human stories.

The Other 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Winners

The fiction award was announced alongside the prize’s nonfiction honors.

Kevin Sack won the 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction for Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church. The book traces the history of Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church through slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement and the 2015 racist mass shooting that killed nine worshippers.

Eve L. Ewing was named the nonfiction runner-up for Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism.

Ann Patchett is also receiving the 2026 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes a body of work reflecting the foundation’s commitment to peace, social justice and global understanding.

Why This Award Matters for The Sunflower Boys

Literary prizes can help readers discover books that might otherwise be lost in a crowded publishing market. For a debut novel, the effect can be especially important.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize win distinguishes The Sunflower Boys not only as an acclaimed novel but as a book with something urgent to say about the present. Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to produce statistics about casualties and displacement. Fiction cannot replace reporting, history or testimony, but it can help readers understand the emotional reality behind those numbers.

Wachman’s novel does that by keeping its focus close to Artem and Yuri. The brothers are not symbols first; they are children with memories, fears, disagreements and love for one another. Their specificity is what gives the larger story its force.

The award may also bring the book to readers searching for literary fiction about Ukraine, queer coming-of-age novels and stories about children living through war. Yet its lasting appeal is likely to come from the way those subjects converge. Artem’s fight to protect his brother becomes inseparable from his struggle to preserve his identity and imagine a future beyond survival.

For readers discovering The Sunflower Boys because of this win, the most important thing to know is that it is not simply a novel about war. It is a novel about the ordinary lives war interrupts—and the love that endures after ordinary life becomes impossible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction?

Sam Wachman won the 2026 fiction prize for his debut novel, The Sunflower Boys.

What is The Sunflower Boys about?

The novel follows 12-year-old Artem and his younger brother, Yuri, after Russia’s invasion destroys their home in Ukraine. As the brothers search for safety and hope to reunite with their father, Artem also confronts grief, responsibility and his feelings for his best friend.

Who was the 2026 fiction runner-up?

Charlotte McConaghy was named the fiction runner-up for Wild Dark Shore.

How much does the Dayton Literary Peace Prize winner receive?

The fiction and nonfiction winners each receive $10,000. The runners-up receive $5,000 each.

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