Local Voices
Author Jennifer Berry Hawes Honored with a Christopher Award
"Grace Will Lead Us Home," written by this Charleston author, is one of 11 representing 16 authors and illustrators in the Awards' 71st Year
Charleston, SC-based author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jennifer Berry Hawes received a Christopher Award for "Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness," (St. Martin’s Press). It is one of 11 books for adults and young people by 16 authors and illustrators honored as the Awards mark their 71st year. They join the creators of nine winning TV/Cable and feature films also being honored.
The Christophers' motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,” is particularly apt in 2020 said Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications. The celebrated authors, illustrators, writers, producers, and directors whose works exemplify this Chinese proverb also “affirm the highest values of the human spirit,” he said.
Hawes explores the difficult road to healing and forgiveness faced by family members and the community at large after the June 17, 2015 racist murders of nine members of Charleston's Emanuel AME Church.
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A dozen worshipers had welcomed a young white man to their evening Bible study. Dylann Roof arrived with a pistol, 88 bullets, and hopes of starting a race war. His massacre of these innocents during their closing prayer horrified the nation. Two days later, some relatives of the dead stood at Roof’s hearing and said, “I forgive you.” That grace offered the country a hopeful ending to an awful story. But for the survivors and victims’ families, the journey had just begun.
Hawes writes for the Charleston-based Post and Courier, where she covered religion for a decade and now works on a team that handles in-depth investigative reporting projects. In addition to a Pulitzer Prize her work has won a George Polk Award, a National Headliner Award, and a Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma. Grace Will Lead Us Home is Hawes' first book.
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The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb—“It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”— guides its publishing, radio, and awards programs. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.