At an awards ceremony at The Morgan Library in New York City on April 11th, Tayari Jones was announced as the winner of the second annual Aspen Words Literary Prize for her novel An American Marriage, calling it a novel that’s “going to have a place in the literary imagination for a long time.”

The Aspen Words Literary Prize is an annual award given by the nonprofit literary organization Aspen Words in partnership with NPR for an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.

In An American Marriage, an African-American couple struggles to maintain a strong relationship as the husband is serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

The selection jury also honored There There by Tommy Orange, Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Brother by David Chariandy, and Gun Love by Jennifer Clement as finalists for the second annual award.