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Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder

Aspen Institute Announces the 2027 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist

Now in its 10th year, the $35,000 award honors fiction spotlighting social issues. 

Aspen, CO, November 4, 2026 — Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute, today announced the 10th annual longlist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize (AWLP), a $35,000 award for a work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue.  

  • “One Leg on Earth” by ‘Pemi Aguda (W.W. Norton) 
  • “A Splintering” by Dur e Aziz Amna (Dzanc Books) 
  • “Dèy” by Edwidge Danticat (Alfred A. Knopf) 
  • “Fat Swim” by Emma Copley Eisenberg (Hogarth) 
  • “The Disappearers” by Marlon James (Riverhead Books) 
  • “Kin” by Tayari Jones (Alfred A. Knopf) 
  • “American Hagwon” by Min Jin Lee (Cardinal) 
  • “Good People” by Patmeena Sabit (Crown) 
  • “I’ll Take the Fire” by Leila Slimani (Penguin Books) 
  • “Should the Waters Take Us” by Stephanie Soileau (Doubleday) 
  • “The Calamity Club” by Kathryn Stockett (Spiegel and Grau) 
  • “John of John” by Douglas Stuart (Grove Press) 
  • “A Private Man” by Stephanie Sy-Quia (Grove Press) 
  • “Etna” by Paul Yoon (Scribner)

For more information on the 2027 longlist, visit www.aspenwords.org/longlist. 

The 2027 longlist includes 14 works of fiction –13 novels and one short story collection. “Good People” by Patmeena Sabit, “Should the Waters Take Us” by Stephanie Soileau and “A Private Man” by Stephanie Sy-Quia are debut novels; “Fat Swim” by Emma Copley Eisenberg is a debut story collection. 

This year’s prize jury, Claire Jiménez, Afabwaje Kurian (a 2025 AWLP finalist), Victor LaValle, Maria Reva (the 2026 AWLP winner) and Will Schwalbe, will select five finalists and one winner. The 2027 finalists will be announced in March, and the 10th prize winner will be announced at a ceremony in New York City on Thursday, April 29, 2027.  

“For ten years, the Aspen Words Literary Prize made one bet: that fiction is among the best tools we have for understanding the world as it is and imagining it otherwise,” said Aspen Words Executive Director Adrienne Brodeur. “This year’s longlist makes that case brilliantly. These writers take on the hardest questions of our moment the way only fiction can, by putting you inside lives that aren’t yours. These are books that argue, unsettle, and stay with you. That’s what we’ve been championing since the beginning, and a decade in, we believe in that bet more than ever.” 

The Aspen Words Literary Prize was first awarded in 2018 to the novel “Exit West” by Mohsin Hamid (2018). Subsequent winners include “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones (2019), “The Beekeeper of Aleppo” by Christy Lefteri (2020), “The Night Watchman” by Louise Erdrich (2021), “The Final Revival of Opal and Nev” by Dawnie Walton (2022), “The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories” by Jamil Jan Kochai (2023), “Enter Ghost” by Isabella Hammad (2024) and “Wandering Stars” by Tommy Orange (2025). In 2026, Maria Reva won the award for her debut novel “Endling.”  
 
About the Aspen Words Literary Prize  
The $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize honors an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture. Open to authors of any nationality, the award is one of the largest literary prizes in the United States, and one of the few focused exclusively on socially engaged fiction. The prize’s past winners include Mohsin Hamid, Tayari Jones, Christy Lefteri, Louise Erdrich, Dawnie Walton, Jamil Jan Kochai, Isabella Hammad, Tommy Orange and Maria Reva.   

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Download author photos here  

Download book jackets here  

Download author bios and book descriptions 

Aspen Words Literary Prize logo here  

 
Questions or requests for author interviews can be directed to:    
Mallory Kaufman, Senior Program Associate  
Aspen Words | The Aspen Institute  
[email protected]  
Phone: 970-925-3122 ext. 2  


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Aspen Words was founded in 1976 as a literary center based in Aspen, CO. A program of the Aspen Institute, its mission is to encourage writers, inspire readers and connect people through the power of stories. For more information, visit www.aspenwords.org.  

 
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.