The eighth annual award ceremony took place at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City on April 23.
CONTACT: Mallory Kaufman
Aspen Words Senior Program Associate | The Aspen Institute
Mallory.kaufman@aspeninstitute.org
970-925-3122 x2
New York, NY, April 23, 2025 –– Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute, this evening announced the recipient of the Aspen Words Literary Prize (AWLP), a $35,000 annual award for a work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.
Tommy Orange was named winner of the prize for Wandering Stars, a family story that traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations.
In a citation, the AWLP jury stated: “Every tribal nation has its own story that deserves fierce emotional and intellectual telling. Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, takes us from the Sand Creek Massacre to Oakland, California. On the way there, his characters become the bearers of America’s history of violence, the vessels of trauma and spirituality, and the wandering stars of addiction and redemption. Wandering Stars serves to deepen and inform Orange’s fine debut novel There, There, but it also stands on its own as a mesmerizing epic drama.”
This is Orange’s second novel; his first book, There, There, was a finalist for the 2019 Aspen Words Literary Prize as well as the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and received the 2019 American Book Award.
As part of the program, broadcaster, essayist and critic Bilal Qureshi moderated a conversation with prize finalists Percival Everett (James), Afabwaje Kurian (Before the Mango Ripens) and Ruben Reyes Jr. (There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven). The full list of 2025 finalists includes Tommy Orange (Wandering Stars) and Yael van der Wouden (The Safekeep).
Orange was selected as the recipient of the prize by an independent five-member jury comprised of Dr. John Deasy, Louise Erdrich, Ben Fountain, Vanessa Hua and Tayari Jones.
This summer, Wandering Stars will be featured in the 2025 Community Read sponsored by Aspen Words and Pitkin County Library in Aspen, Colorado. As part of the program, free copies of the novel will be distributed throughout Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley.
A recording of the awards ceremony is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/live/pk6PdCVIr98
Link to book jacket, author photo and Aspen Words Literary prize logo available here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/6xyugkjt60fr04debirkl/AMfgNxM_ckA8JUSP621cQlE?rlkey=3e05b7fg0xgmgbrgzcstaa7vp&st=ps98xt1d&dl=0
ABOUT ASPEN WORDS
For 50 years, Aspen Words has brought readers and writers together through exceptional literary programs – shaping cultural conversations, championing new voices, and celebrating the power of stories. Learn more at aspenwords.org.
ABOUT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE
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.
ABOUT THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE
The $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize is awarded annually to 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, it is one of the largest literary prizes in the United States, and one of the few focused exclusively on fiction with a social impact. The inaugural award was presented to Mohsin Hamid in 2018 for Exit West, his novel about migration and refugees. Tayari Jones won in 2019 for An American Marriage, which explores racism and unjust incarceration. In 2020, Christy Lefteri received the award for The Beekeeper of Aleppo, about Syrian refugees. Louise Erdrich was honored in 2021 for The Night Watchman, about Native American dispossession. In 2022, Dawnie Walton won for The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, which explores identity, place and pop culture. Jamil Jan Kochai was awarded the 2023 prize for The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, a powerful short story collection about Afghans, Afghan Americans and the surreal aftershocks of state violence. The 2024 winner was Isabella Hammad for Enter Ghost, a novel about diaspora, displacement and the connection to be found in family and shared resistance. Eligible works include novels and short story collections that address issues of violence, inequality, gender, the environment, immigration, religion, racism or other social issues.
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ASPEN WORDS CONTACT
Mallory Kaufman
Aspen Words Senior Program Associate | The Aspen Institute
Mallory.kaufman@aspeninstitute.org
970-925-3122 x2