The longlist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, given annually to “an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture,” has been revealed.
Five of this year’s nominated books also appeared on the longlist for the 2022 National Book Award for fiction: When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar, If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai, All This Could be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews, and The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela.
Mohsin Hamid, who won the first Aspen Words prize in 2018 for his novel Exit West, made this year’s longlist for his latest, The Last White Man.
Four of the nominated books, including Varela’s novel, published by Astra House, came from outside the Big Five publishers: Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah (Algonquin), What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Laskhmi Kolluri (Tin House), and The Consequences by Manuel Muñoz (Graywolf).
Also nominated were NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory, Angie Cruz’s How Not To Drown in a Glass of Water, Ladee Hubbard’s The Last Suspicious Holdout, Chinelo Okparanta’s Harry Sylvester Bird, and Tara Stringfellow’s Memphis.
Past winners of the Aspen Words prize, which is presented by the Aspen Institute and comes with a $35,000 cash award, have included Tayari Jones for An American Marriage and Louise Erdrich for The Night Watchman.
The finalists for the 2023 award will be revealed on March 6, with the winner announced on April 19.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
