On April 25th, the Aspen Words Literary Prize was awarded to Isabella Hammad for her novel, Enter Ghost.

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 a citation, the prize jury stated: “In elegant, nuanced prose, Isabella Hammad tells the story of Sonia Nasir, a stage actress living in London who returns to her homeland of Palestine to visit her sister, Haneen, after many years away, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. Exploring themes of diaspora, displacement and the search for identity, Hammad constructs a world rich in texture and emotion. A poignant narrative of resilience and the quest for belonging,  Enter Ghost  is a dazzling story of self-discovery against the backdrop of displacement.”