# Aspen Words Literary Prize

The Aspen Words Literary Prize, established in 2018, is an annual literary award presented by Aspen Words, a literary center in Aspen, Colorado. The prize is presented to an author for "an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.” Winners receive a US$35,000 prize.

## Recipients

Aspen Words Literary Prize winners and finalists :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 2018 | Mohsin Hamid | Exit West | Winner |
| 2018 | Lesley Nneka Arimah | What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Zinzi Clemmons | What We Lose | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Samrat Upadhyay | Mad Country | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Jesmyn Ward | Sing, Unburied, Sing | Shortlist |
| 2018 | Alain Mabanckou | Black Moses | Longlist |
| 2018 | Weike Wang | Chemistry | Longlist |
| 2018 | Roxane Gay | Difficult Women | Longlist |
| 2018 | Rowan Hisayo Buchanan | Harmless Like You | Longlist |
| 2018 | Shanthi Sekaran | Lucky Boy | Longlist |
| 2018 | Vaddey Ratner | Music of the Ghosts | Longlist |
| 2018 | Hala Alyan | Salt Houses | Longlist |
| 2018 | Bandi | The Accusation | Longlist |
| 2018 | Jean Hanff Korelitz | The Devil and Webster | Longlist |
| 2018 | Megan Hunter | The End We Start From | Longlist |
| 2018 | Curtis Dawkins | The Graybar Hotel | Longlist |
| 2018 | Lisa Ko | The Leavers | Longlist |
| 2018 | Jonathan Dee | The Locals | Longlist |
| 2018 | Viet Thanh Nguyen | The Refugees | Longlist |
| 2018 | Achy Obejas | The Tower of the Antilles | Longlist |
| 2019 | Tayari Jones | An American Marriage | Winner |
| 2019 | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Friday Black | Shortlist |
| 2019 | David Chariandy | Brother | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Jennifer Clement | Gun Love | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Tommy Orange | There There | Shortlist |
| 2019 | Elaine Castillo | America Is Not the Heart | Longlist |
| 2019 | Will Mackin | Bring Out the Dog | Longlist |
| 2019 | Akwaeke Emezi | Freshwater | Longlist |
| 2019 | Nafissa Thompson-Spires | Heads of the Colored People | Longlist |
| 2019 | Neel Patel | If You See Me, Don't Say Hi | Longlist |
| 2019 | Jamel Brinkley | Lucky Man | Longlist |
| 2019 | Ling Ma | Severance | Longlist |
| 2019 | Gaël Faye | Small Country | Longlist |
| 2019 | Sharon Bala | The Boat People | Longlist |
| 2019 | R. O. Kwon | The Incendiaries | Longlist |
| 2019 | Brandon Hobson | Where the Dead Sit Talking | Longlist |
| 2020 | Christy Lefteri | The Beekeeper of Aleppo | Winner |
| 2020 | Nicole Dennis-Benn | Patsy | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Brian Allen Carr | Opioid, Indiana | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Valeria Luiselli | Lost Children Archive | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Bryan Washington | Lot | Shortlist |
| 2020 | Steph Cha | Your House Will Pay | Longlist |
| 2020 | Angie Cruz | Dominicana | Longlist |
| 2020 | Kali Fajardo-Anstine | Sabrina & Corina | Longlist |
| 2020 | Laila Lalami | The Other Americans | Longlist |
| 2020 | Beth Piatote | The Beadworkers | Longlist |
| 2020 | Melissa Rivero | The Affairs of the Falcóns | Longlist |
| 2020 | Maurice Carlos Ruffin | We Cast a Shadow | Longlist |
| 2020 | Rion Amilcar Scott | The World Doesn't Require You | Longlist |
| 2020 | Ocean Vuong | On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous | Longlist |
| 2020 | Colson Whitehead | The Nickel Boys | Longlist |
| 2020 | Jacqueline Woodson | Red at the Bone | Longlist |
| 2021 | Louise Erdrich | The Night Watchman | Winner |
| 2021 | Susan Abulhawa | Against the Loveless World | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Rumaan Alam | Leave the World Behind | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Danielle Evans | The Office of Historical Corrections | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Randall Kenan | If I Had Two Wings: Stories | Shortlist |
| 2021 | Brit Bennett | The Vanishing Half | Longlist |
| 2021 | Diane Cook | The New Wilderness | Longlist |
| 2021 | Juliana Delgado Lopera | Fiebre Tropical | Longlist |
| 2021 | Akwaeke Emezi | The Death of Vivek Oji | Longlist |
| 2021 | Yaa Gyasi | Transcendent Kingdom | Longlist |
| 2021 | Lydia Millet | A Children's Bible: A Novel | Longlist |
| 2021 | Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi | A Girl Is a Body of Water | Longlist |
| 2021 | Tola Rotimi Abraham | Black Sunday | Longlist |
| 2021 | Brandon Taylor | Real Life | Longlist |
| 2021 | Bryan Washington | Memorial | Longlist |
| 2022 | Dawnie Walton | The Final Revival of Opal & Nev | Winner |
| 2022 | Hala Alyan | The Arsonists' City | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Myriam J. A. Chancy | What Storm, What Thunder | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Omar El Akkad | What Strange Paradise | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Kirstin Valdez Quade | The Five Wounds | Shortlist |
| 2022 | Nawaaz Ahmed | Radiant Fugitives | Longlist |
| 2022 | Tahmima Alam | The Startup Wife | Longlist |
| 2022 | Peter Ho Davies | A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself | Longlist |
| 2022 | Linda Rui Feng | Swimming Back to Trout River | Longlist |
| 2022 | Kaitlyn Greenidge | Libertie | Longlist |
| 2022 | Jakob Guanzon | Abundance | Longlist |
| 2022 | Honorée Fanonne Jeffers | The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois | Longlist |
| 2022 | Jason Mott | Hell of a Book | Longlist |
| 2022 | Eric Nguyen | Things We Lost to the Water | Longlist |
| 2022 | Richard Powers | Bewilderment | Longlist |
| 2022 | Karen Tucker | Bewilderness | Longlist |
| 2023 | Jamil Jan Kochai | The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories | Winner |
| 2023 | Angie Cruz | How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water | Finalist |
| 2023 | Oscar Hokeah | Calling for a Blanket Dance | Finalist |
| 2023 | Sarah Thankam Mathews | All This Could Be Different | Finalist |
| 2023 | Manuel Muñoz | The Consequences | Finalist |
| 2023 | Fatimah Asghar | When We Were Sisters | Longlist |
| 2023 | NoViolet Bulawayo | Glory | Longlist |
| 2023 | Jonathan Escoffery | If I Survive You | Longlist |
| 2023 | Mohsin Hamid | The Last White Man | Longlist |
| 2023 | Ladee Hubbard | The Last Suspicious Holdout | Longlist |
| 2023 | Talia Laskshmi Kolluri | What We Fed to the Manticore | Longlist |
| 2023 | Chinelo Okparanta | Harry Sylvester Bird | Longlist |
| 2023 | Tara M. Stringfellow | Memphis | Longlist |
| 2023 | Alejandro Varela | The People Who Report More Stress | Longlist |
| 2024 | Isabella Hammad | Enter Ghost | Winner |
| 2024 | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Chain-Gang All-Stars | Finalist |
| 2024 | Aaliyah Bilal | Temple Folk | Finalist |
| 2024 | Jamel Brinkley | Witness | Finalist |
| 2024 | James McBride | The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store | Finalist |
| 2024 | Stephen Buoro | The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa | Longlist |
| 2024 | Sonora Jha | The Laughter | Longlist |
| 2024 | Claire Jiménez | What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez | Longlist |
| 2024 | R. F. Kuang | Yellowface | Longlist |
| 2024 | Rebecca Makkai | I Have Some Questions for You | Longlist |
| 2024 | Jennifer Maritza McCauley | When Trying to Return Home: Stories | Longlist |
| 2024 | Alejandro Varela | The People Who Report More Stress: Stories | Longlist |
| 2024 | Jesmyn Ward | Let Us Descend | Longlist |
| 2024 | C Pam Zhang | Land of Milk and Honey | Longlist |
| 2025 | Percival Everett | James | Finalist |
| 2025 | Afabwaje Kurian | Before the Mango Ripens | Finalist |
| 2025 | Tommy Orange | Wandering Stars | Finalist |
| 2025 | Ruben Ryes Jr. | There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven | Finalist |
| 2025 | Yael van der Wouden | The Safekeep | Finalist |
| 2025 | Chelsea Bieker | Madwoman | Longlist |
| 2025 | Cebo Campbell | Sky Full of Elephants | Longlist |
| 2025 | Xochitl Gonzalez | Anita de Monte Laughs Last | Longlist |
| 2025 | Shilpi Somaya Gowda | A Great Country | Longlist |
| 2025 | Fabienne Josaphat | Kingdom of No Tomorrow | Longlist |
| 2025 | Samuel Kọ́láwọ́lẹ́ | The Road to the Salt Sea | Longlist |
| 2025 | Eric Rickstad | Lilith | Longlist |
| 2025 | Morgan Talty | Fire Exit | Longlist |
| 2025 | John Vercher | Devil Is Fine | Longlist |