Indian American writer Shahnaz Habib was honored with the 7th Annual New American Voices Award for her nonfiction work, Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel. This award celebrates recently published books by immigrant authors that reveal intricate layers of human experience and challenge underrepresented perspectives in literature.
On October 17, Habib received her $5,000 award at George Mason’s Center in Fairfax, Virginia, where she was joined by finalists Alex Espinoza, author of The Sons of El Rey, and Carrie Sun, author of Private Equity: A Memoir. The event featured judges Myriam J. A. Chancy, V. V. Ganeshananthan, and Karin Tanabe, who expressed admiration for the depth and boldness of this year’s submissions. Ganeshananthan highlighted the risks taken by the authors, describing the shortlisted works as “bold” and “unconventional.” Tanabe noted how each book disrupted the “good immigrant” stereotype, and Chancy praised Habib, Sun, and Espinoza for their groundbreaking contributions.
Published by Catapult Books, Airplane Mode is described as both a personal memoir and a cultural critique of tourism through the lens of a Muslim woman from the Third World. The book explores the complex intersections of travel, privilege, and identity. According to the Fall for the Book website, Habib’s essays, which mix personal narratives with research, address topics ranging from the history of passports to cultural experiences in diverse places, from Brooklyn to Istanbul. Her work disrupts traditional ideas around travel, particularly as they apply to those from the Global South, reshaping assumptions about movement across cultures and geographies.
Habib, who previously translated the novel Jasmine Days, winner of India’s JCB Prize for Literature, has written for various notable publications, including The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Afar. A Kerala native, she holds degrees from Mahatma Gandhi University, the University of Delhi, and the New School, where she also teaches. Habib resides in Brooklyn with her family and consults for the United Nations, having also worked as an Associate Press Officer and translator for various organizations.
