Aspen Words Literary Prize

The Aspen Words Literary Prize is a $35,000 annual award for a work of fiction that sheds light on an urgent social issue and shows how literature can shape thought and culture. Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute, launched the prize in 2016 and first presented it in 2018, when Mohsin Hamid won for Exit West, his novel about migration and refugees. Later winners include Tayari Jones, Louise Erdrich and Isabella Hammad.

The prize is open to authors of any nationality. Eligible books are novels and short story collections published in the United States during the prior year that take on questions such as violence, inequality, gender, the environment, immigration, religion or race. Publishers submit entries in summer, a longlist follows in the fall, a shortlist is announced early in the new year, and the winner is named in the spring.

Novels and short story collections by authors of any nationality, published in English in the United States during the prior calendar year, that engage a pressing social issue.