{"id":2442877,"date":"2019-04-11T19:25:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T01:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=304007"},"modified":"2019-04-11T19:25:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T01:25:00","slug":"tayari-jones-an-american-marriage-wins-aspen-words-literary-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/tayari-jones-an-american-marriage-wins-aspen-words-literary-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Tayari Jones\u2019 \u2018An American Marriage\u2019 wins Aspen Words Literary Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"
Novelist Tayari Jones with her Aspen Words Literary Prize on Thursday. The trophy was created by Anderson Ranch Arts Center arist Michael Lorsung in Snowmass Village.<\/strong>
ASPEN00025<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tayari Jones\u2019 novel \u201cAn American Marriage\u201d won the second annual Aspen Words Literary Prize on Thursday night in a ceremony at the Morgan Library in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

The $35,000 prize from the locally based literary nonprofit Aspen Words aims to recognize a work of fiction published in English that addresses contemporary social issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to Aspen Words for this award \u2014 for having this award at all,\u201d Jones said in her acceptance speech. \u201cBecause many of us who write and engage the issues of the day, we\u2019re told not to. We\u2019re told that that\u2019s not what real art does. An award like this, I think it encourages all of us to keep following the strength of our conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The novel, set in Atlanta, is about a young African-American couple split apart by a wrongful conviction and imprisonment. It was previously awarded the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work and was an Oprah\u2019s Book Club selection.<\/p>\n

Also among the finalists for the Aspen Words prize<\/a> were \u201cFriday Black\u201d by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, \u201cBrother\u201d by David Chariandy, \u201cGun Love\u201d by Jennifer Clement and \u201cThere There\u201d by Tommy Orange. All five finalists took part in a panel discussion, moderated by NPR\u2019s Renee Montagne, before the winner was announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cBooks matter, stories matter,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a writer people are constantly telling you that nobody reads anymore, that everyone just tweets. \u2026 Thank you for reminding us that this work is important. It makes a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $35,000 attached to the prize ranks it among the more lucrative American publishing awards for fiction. It was endowed by an anonymous donor to Aspen Words and is to be given annually in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

As this year\u2019s winner, Jones \u2014 a professor of creative writing at Emory University \u2014 will speak in Aspen during the Summer Words literary festival June 18 in a public event. Last year\u2019s inaugural winner, \u201cExit West\u201d author Mohsin Hamid,<\/a> appeared only for donors at the literary nonprofit\u2019s benefit dinner.<\/p>\n

The Pitkin County Library also will host a summer-long community read of \u201cAn American Marriage\u201d in the Roaring Fork Valley.<\/p>\n

A five-member jury selected the finalists, picking them from 177 nominations and 16 long-listed titles. The jury was comprised of \u201cBastard Out of Carolina\u201d author Dorothy Allison, Aspen Words advisory board President Suzanne Bober, Aspen Institute Vice President Elliot Gerson, Columbia University professor Fara Jasmine Griffin and \u201cMad Country\u201d author Samrat Upadhyay.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019An American Marriage\u2019 is a gripping novel about the dissolution of a marriage,\u201d the jury wrote in its citation. \u201cBut beneath the surface of this deeply moving love story is a powerful statement about unjust incarceration and a corrupt criminal justice system that has ravaged generations of African-American families. Writing with poignancy and humor, Jones offers a much-needed meditation on issues of race, class, identity \u2014 and shows us how to move forward after a great loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his introductory remarks at the awards ceremony, Aspen Institute President and CEO Dan Porterfield said that the nominated books are \u201creally about awakening moral imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we do and that\u2019s what we celebrate today and it is what is so desperately needed in our country and in our world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novelist Tayari Jones with her Aspen Words Literary Prize on Thursday. The trophy was created by Anderson Ranch Arts Center arist Michael Lorsung in Snowmass Village.ASPEN00025 Tayari Jones\u2019 novel \u201cAn American Marriage\u201d won the second annual Aspen Words Literary Prize on Thursday night in a ceremony at the Morgan Library in Manhattan. The $35,000 prize […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2442877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-16 15:03:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}