The National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 List!
The National Book Foundation has chosen 5 2017 debut authors for their 5 Under 35 award, and they’re all women!
Since 2006, The National Book Foundation has honored 5 young debut writers with this award, selected by previous National Book Award Finalists. This year’s judges included Sherman Alexie and Lydia Millet, among other renowned writers.
And what a list of finalists! All women and 3 women of color. This isn’t the first time The National Book Foundation has chosen an all woman line-up; they did so in 2013 as well. In fact, in all 11 years of this award, a diverse list of excellent writers has been chosen, which makes this a fantastic list to follow.
The winners are awarded a $1,000 honorarium, and while a small sum, I hope their book sales increase as a result of this honor. And more book deals follow!
Without further ado, here are 2017’s 5 under 35:
Lesley Nneka Arimah, author of What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky: Stories (Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House)
Halle Butler, author of Jillian (Curbside Splendor)
Selector: Lydia Millet, 2016 National Book Award Longlist for Fiction
Zinzi Clemmons, author of What We Lose (Viking / Penguin Random House)
Selector: Angela Flournoy, 2015 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction and 5 Under 35 honoree
Leopoldine Core, author of When Watched: Stories (Penguin Books / Penguin Random House) Selector: Karan Mahajan, 2016 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction
Weike Wang, author of Chemistry (Knopf / Penguin Random House)
Selector: Sherman Alexie, 2007 National Book Award Winner for Young People’s Literature
Have you read any of these? What did you think? I’m really drawn to the title What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky; I’ll have to read that one first.
