Aspen Words recently announced the longlist for the inaugural Aspen Words Literary Prize, a $35,000 annual award for a work of fiction with social impact. The 20 longlisted titles include 12 novels and eight short story collections, and cover a variety of pressing issues — from immigration and inequality, to climate change, mental illness, incarceration, and cultural identity.

Among the works listed:

Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

Alyan was born in 1986. After living in various parts of the Middle East, she completed a doctorate in psychology and now divides her time between private practice and teaching at New York University. She has been published in Guernica and other literary journals, and is the award-winning author of three poetry collections and the novel Salt Houses.

The Accusation by Bandi

Bandi, which means “firefly” in Korean, is a pseudonym for a writer who is still living in his homeland of North Korea. The Accusation, which was written in secret and smuggled out of the country, is his only published book to date. Deborah Smith is the Man Booker International Prize–winning translator of The Vegetarian by Han Kang and other books.

Harmless Like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

Hisayo Buchanan is a British-Japanese-Chinese-American novelist. She received a BA from Columbia University in New York, and currently resides in the UK. Harmless Like You was a New York Times Editors’ Pick and won a Betty Trask Award.

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran 

Sekaran teaches creative writing at California College of the Arts, and is a member of the Portuguese Artists’ Colony and the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Best New American Voices and Canteen, and online at Zyzzyva and Mutha Magazine.

Read the full list of 20 new works of fiction with social impact at The Aspen Institute.