Aspen Words has announced the shortlist for this year’s Literary Prize, a $35,000 award to a work of fiction with a social impact.
An international jury of five celebrated authors selected the finalists: two short story collections and three novels that grapple with themes like immigration, identity, resilience and ethics. The same jury will select the winner, to be announced on April 25.
Aspen Words will host an awards ceremony at the Morgan Library in New York City and a watch party at the Pitkin County Library in Aspen.
The panel offered glowing praise for each of the five finalists, as follows:
- “Temple Folk,” by Aaliyah Bilal, earned acclaim as a collection of “sublime stories about spiritual loss and renewal,” featuring the perspectives of Black American Muslims. The jury wrote that Bilal has demonstrated “a vision and a voice all her own,” crafting a distinctive volume that “leaves both its characters and its readers transformed.” Bilal’s debut collection was also a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction.
- “Witness,” by Jamel Brinkley, was commended as a “superb” and “profoundly moral collection” of short stories about relationships among lovers, family and friends. The book explores the choices between action and inaction, as well as “the challenge of perception and the responsibility of love,” through “beautifully observed prose,” the jury wrote. The collection was also a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for fiction.
- “Chain-Gang All-Stars,” by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, looks critically at mass incarceration, racism and violence in a story “as provocative as it is illuminating,” the jury wrote. The panel compared the book to landmark dystopian novels like “Fahrenheit 451” and “1984,” with “action-packed storytelling” to get readers hooked. Adjei-Brenyah’s debut novel was also a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction.
- “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store,” by James McBride, was applauded as a “richly populated tour de force” with a “captivating narrative” about a community of Jewish immigrants and Black Americans in the 1930s. The jury acknowledged the “grace and humor” with which McBride explores “the politics of race in class;” the book also grapples with the duality of “kindness against wickedness.” The novel has already won the Kirkus Prize for fiction.
- “Enter Ghost,” by Isabella Hammad, was recognized as “a dazzling story of self-discovery against the backdrop of displacement,” the jury wrote. Hammad’s sophomore novel follows a stage actress who returns to her homeland in Palestine and ends up performing in “Hamlet” in the West Bank. The jury wrote that it was a “poignant narrative of resilience and the quest for belonging.” The book was also recently longlisted for the Women’s Prize for fiction.
More information on this year's finalists and past winners is available at aspenwords.org.
