Aspen Words has announced the 2026 longlist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, a $35,000 annual award for a work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue.
The following 15 works are in contention for this award:
- “The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)” by Rabih Alameddine (Grove Press)
- “King of Ashes” by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
- “The Wilderness” by Angela Flournoy (Mariner Books)
- “Culpability” by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau)
- “Intemperance: A Novel” by Sonora Jha (HarperVia)
- “The River Is Waiting” by Wally Lamb (Simon and Schuster; Marysue Rucci Books)
- “Ring: A Novel” by Michelle Lerner (Bancroft Press)
- “A Family Matter” by Claire Lynch (Scribner)
- “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books)
- “These Heathens: A Novel” by Mia McKenzie (Random House)
- “Happy Land” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Berkley)
- “This Here Is Love” by Princess Joy L. Perry (W. W. Norton & Company)
- “Endling” by Maria Reva (Doubleday)
- “Behind the Waterline” by Kionna Walker LeMalle (Blair)
- “So Far Gone: A Novel” by Jess Walter (Harper)
About the Aspen Word 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, and Tommy Orange.
The shortlist will be announced on March 11, 2026, and the winner will be revealed on April 23, 2026.
More information: www.aspenwords.org/longlist