The shortlist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize 2024 was announced on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
The Aspen Words Literary Prize is an annual award for an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture. Eligible works include novels or short story collections that address questions of violence, inequality, gender, the environment, immigration, religion, race or other social issues. Past winners include Mohsin Hamid (2018), Tayari Jones (2019), Christy Lefteri (2020), Erdrich (2021), and Dawnie Walton (2022). Laila Lalami and Nicole Dennis-Benn have made the shortlist.
The selection committee that reads all nominated works published in the United States in 2023 and determines the longlist comprised Nora Gonzalez, Lois Nemcovsky, and Jerid P. Woods. This team came up with the longlist on Monday, November 8.
The longlist was then handed over to a jury comprising authors Lan Samantha Chang, Christina Baker Kline, Anthony Marra, Chinelo Okparanta, and Simran Jeet Singh who revealed the shortlist. The following writers of African descent were on it;
- Chain-Gang All-Stars, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Pantheon – Random House
- Temple Folk, Aaliyah Bilal, Simon & Schuster
- Witness, Jamel Brinkley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux – Macmillan
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books – Penguin Random House
Below is the announcement on YouTube;
The winner will be announced via livestream on Thursday, April 25.
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