By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
A Five-Title Shortlist Is Expected March 12
In its eighth year, the Aspen Words Literary Prize has become even more streamlined than before in announcing a slate of longlisted titles and authors.
The five-title shortlist is anticipated on March 12. The winner is to be named on April 23.
The US$35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize is awarded annually “to an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.”
This is a program of the international nonprofit Aspen Institute and bears the organization’s hallmark of socially and politically serious intent: This is a competition among literary works that are both issue-driven and capable of driving issues.
Freed of the consumerist come-hither imperative of entertainment, the Aspen Words Literary Prize presents its contenders each year without overheated descriptions of plots and emotional hooks. In her comment on the release of the jury’s 14-title longlist this year, the program’s executive director Adrienne Brodeur, says this:
Adrienne Brodeur
“The Aspen Words Literary Prize honors fiction that delves fearlessly into the most pressing social challenges of our time, examining both the personal and collective impacts of issues like racial injustice, generational trauma, immigration, and gender equity.
“This year’s longlist showcases an extraordinary range of voices—both emerging and established—whose stories confront the complex realities of our world with empathy, insight, and urgency.”
Members of the news media are left to offer their readers a chance to discover these works for themselves without descriptive bias, rather than through public-relations and marketing hyperbole—a rare presentation.
This year’s jury comprises John Deasy; Louise Erdrich, the 2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize winner; Ben Fountain; Vanessa Hua; and Tayari Jones, the 2019 Aspen Words Literary Prize winner.
Aspen Words Literary Prize 2025 Longlist
These 14 longlisted titles include five fiction debuts and one story collection debut.
| Author | Title | Publisher, Imprint |
| Chelsea Bieker | Madwoman | Hachette/Little, Brown |
| Cebo Campbell | Sky Full of Elephants | Simon & Schuster |
| Percival Everett | James | Penguin Random House/Doubleday |
| Xochitl Gonzalez | Anita de Monte Laughs Last | Macmillan/Flatiron |
| Shilpi Somaya Gowda | A Great Country | HarperCollins/Mariner |
| Fabienne Josaphat | Kingdom of No Tomorrow | Hachette/Algonquin |
| Samuel Kolawole | The Road to the Salt Sea | HarperCollins/Amistad |
| Afabwaje Kurian | Before the Mango Ripens | Dzanc Books |
| Tommy Orange | Wandering Stars | Penguin Random House/Knopf |
| Eric Rickstad | Lilith | Blackstone Publishing |
| Ruben Reyes Jr. | There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven | HarperCollins/Mariner |
| Morgan Talty | Fire Exit | Tin House |
| John Vercher | Devil is Fine | Macmillan/Celadon Books |
| Yael van der Wouden | The Safekeep | Avid Reader Press |
Previous Winners of the Aspen Words Literary Prize
The inaugural Aspen Words Literary Prize was presented to Mohsin Hamid in 2018 for Exit West.
Subsequent honors have gone to:
- Tayari Jones in 2019 for An American Marriage, her novel about racism and unjust incarceration
- Christy Lefteri in 2020 prize for The Beekeeper of Aleppo, about Syrian refugees
- Louise Erdrich in 2021 award for The Night Watchman, about Native American dispossession
- Dawnie Walton in 2022 for The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, which explores identity, place, and the influence of pop culture
- Jamil Jan Kochai in 2023 for The Haunting of Hajji Hotak
- Isabella Hammad in 2024 for Enter Ghost
More from us on the Aspen Words Literary Prize is here, more on the American book business is here. More from Publishing Perspectives on international book and publishing awards programs is here.