Mohsin Hamid's 'Exit West' Wins First-Ever Aspen Words Literary Prize
His magical realist novel on the lives of refugees "hints at possibilities for doing better," judges said. And it won him the prize, which recognizes fiction tackling today's thorniest social issues.
Updated at 8:30 p.m. ET
Five works of fiction entered Tuesday night with the chance to win the inaugural Aspen Words Literary Prize. As stories of immigrants and refugees, past hardships and hopes for the future, these novels and short story collections contain multitudes — but they also share something important, in the minds of Aspen judges: They shine a piercing light on some of the messiest, most difficult social issues of our day.
But just one work won the prize: by Mohsin
