Arlington, Va. author Nina Willner Honored with a Christopher Award

Arlington, Va.-based author Nina Willner has been honored with a Christopher Award for “The Boys in the Light,” (Penguin Random House/Dutton). It is one of 10 winning books for adults and young people as the Christopher Awards program marks its 77^th year.

The Awards celebrate authors, illustrators, writers, producers and directors, whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit” and reflect the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness” which also guides the organization’s publishing and radio programs. Christopher Awards were also given to creators of 9 TV/Cable shows and feature films.

According to Willner’s website the book “follows the parallel journeys of Company D and Eddie Willner, the author’s father, as they are caught up on two sides of World War II. At sixteen, Eddie Willner was among the millions of European Jews rounded up by Hitler’s Nazis. He was forced into slave labor alongside his father and his best friend, Mike [Swaab] and spent the next three years of his life surviving the death camps, including Auschwitz.

“Meanwhile, in the United States, boys only a few years older than Eddie were joining the army and heading toward their own precarious futures. Once farmers, factory workers, and coal miners, they were suddenly untested soldiers, thrust into the brutal conflicts of WWII.

“A company of 3rd Armored Division tankers, led by 23-year-old Elmer Hovland, quickly became battle-hardened and weary, constantly questioning whether the war was worth it. They got their answer when two emaciated boys stepped out of the woods with their tattooed arms raised. This extraordinary true story is a testament to survival against all odds, the strength of the bonds forged during war and the resilience of the human spirit.”

Willner is the author of two critically acclaimed nonfiction books. In addition to “The Boys in the Light,” which was named Amazon Editors' #3 Best Book of the Year - Top Nonfiction, and Best History Book of 2025, she wrote “Forty Autumns,” named a Top 15 Nonfiction Book of 2016 by The CS Monitor. Prior to her writing career she was a US Army intelligence officer who led sensitive missions behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. After a career in intelligence, Nina worked in Moscow, Minsk, Prague, Ottawa and Istanbul promoting human rights, women’s and children’s causes and the rule of law for the US government, nonprofits and a variety of charities. After years living abroad, she now writes narrative nonfiction full time from her home.

Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications, said, “Mother Teresa once observed, ‘If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.’ That sense of ‘belonging to each other’ is reflected in our award-winning stories of selflessness, sacrifice, faith, and kindness that can lead us to a better, more peaceful tomorrow.”

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.More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.Social media: #ChristopherAwards, Facebook: The Christophers / X: @ChristophersInc