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Fairfax, Virginia: Indian American author Shahnaz Habib has been awarded the 7th Annual New American Voices Award for her nonfiction book Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel.
The award, which celebrates works by immigrant writers that explore complex human experiences, was presented to Habib on October 17, along with a $5,000 prize.
The event took place at George Mason University’s Center, where finalists Carrie Sun and Alex Espinoza also joined for discussions on the power and diversity of immigrant stories.
Judges praised Habib’s work for its boldness and humor in challenging assumptions about travel, especially regarding people from the Global South.
Ganeshananthan, one of the judges, noted the risk-taking nature of the submissions, while Karin Tanabe emphasized the importance of breaking stereotypes about the “good immigrant”.
Published by Catapult Books, Airplane Mode is a blend of personal narrative and cultural critique, reflecting on tourism as a Euro-American construct and questioning who has the privilege to travel.
Habib's essays tackle various topics, including the history of passports and the global nature of carousels.
As one judge put it, the book “reshapes our sense of what it means to travel as a person from the Third World across disparate geographies”.
Shahnaz Habib’s award-winning Airplane Mode offers a fresh perspective on travel, inviting readers to reconsider commonly held beliefs.
Her achievement not only spotlights immigrant writers but also encourages readers to explore diverse voices in literature.