2020 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist Announced

Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute, has announced 16 books longlisted for the 2020 Aspen Words Literary Prize, a $35,000 annual award for a work of fiction that addresses a vital contemporary issue.

The longlisted titles are:

• Opioid, Indiana by Brian Allen Carr (Soho Press)
• Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha (Ecco)
• Dominicana by Angie Cruz (Flatiron Books)
• Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn (Liveright)
• Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (One World)
• The Other Americans by Laila Lalami (Pantheon Books)
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri (Ballantine Books)
• Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli (Knopf)
• The Beadworkers: Stories by Beth Piatote (Counterpoint Press)
• The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero (Ecco)
• We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin (One World)
• The World Doesn’t Require You: Stories by Rion Amilcar Scott (Liveright)
• On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press)
• Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington (Riverhead Books)
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
• Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson (Riverhead Books)

The 16 longlisted titles include 12 novels and four short story collections, and six of the selections are by debut authors. The five finalists and winner will be selected by a five-member jury made up of authors Alexander Chee, Amy Garmer, Saeed Jones, Helen Obermeyer, and Esmeralda Santiago. The finalists will be announced on February 19, 2020, and the winner will be revealed at an awards ceremony at the Morgan Library in New York City on April 16, 2020.