National Book Foundation selects '5 Under 35'
Authors such as Phil Klay and Valeria Luiselli were selected by past National Book Award winners as rising stars in the literary world.
Phil Klay, author of 'Redeployment,' and Yelena Akhtiorskaya, author of 'Panic in a Suitcase,' were two of the authors selected as part of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 list.
Want a sneak peek at the future literary talent of America?聽
The National Book Foundation has just announced its 鈥�,鈥澛燼 handful of authors chosen by past National Book Award winners as rising stars in the literary world.
This year鈥檚 honorees include Iraq War veteran Phil Klay whose collection of short stories, 鈥淩edeployment,鈥� is set in Iraq and Afghanistan; NPR contributor Alex Gilvarry, whose novel 鈥淢emoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant鈥� is narrated from inside a US prison cell; Yelena Akhtiorskaya, whose novel 鈥淧anic in a Suitcase鈥� is an immigrant story about her family鈥檚 journey from Odessa to Brooklyn; Mexico City-born Valeria Luiselli, who writes of Mexico families in 鈥淔aces in the Crowd鈥�; and Kirstin Valdez Quade, who writes about love and violence in her short story collection set in northern New Mexico, 鈥淣ight at the Fiestas.鈥澛�
The authors were chosen by past National Book Award winners and finalists and will be formally awarded at a聽Nov. 7聽ceremony in Brooklyn. Each receives $1,000 and joins an exclusive club including such notables as Tea Obreht, Dinaw Mengestu, and Karen Russell.聽
Each author on the 鈥�5 Under 35鈥� list was chosen by a specific former National Book Award honoree. The recognition is significant in that it bookmarks a handful of promising authors the Foundation believes will go on to be among America鈥檚 future literary luminaries.
Previous honorees Mengestu and Russell both went on to become MacArthur 鈥済enius鈥� fellows, while Obreht won an Orange Prize. Other past awardees, like Claire Vaye Watkins went on to win the Story Prize, and Nam Le, the Dylan Thomas Prize.
鈥淚t means so much to me to have my book chosen by Andre Dubus III.聽I admire his work so deeply and the thought that he read my book is absolutely thrilling,鈥� Quade told the UK鈥檚 . Out next March, the stories in 鈥淣ight at the Fiestas鈥� 鈥渨ere written over almost a decade鈥�, she said. 鈥淢ost of them are set in northern New Mexico, where my family is from and where my extended family still lives. It鈥檚 the one place I鈥檝e lived that feels like home, and it鈥檚 a place that I find I return to again and again in my writing.鈥�
The full list of awardees and their sponsors is as follows.
Yelena Akhtiorskaya, "Panic in a Suitcase"聽(Riverhead, July 2014), selected by Aleksandar Hemon, 2008 National Book Award Finalist for "The Lazarus Project";聽Alex Gilvarry, "From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant"聽(Viking, January 2012), selected by Amy Bloom, 1993 National Book Award Finalist for "Come to Me";聽Phil Klay,聽"Redeployment"聽(Penguin Press, March 2014), selected by Andrea Barrett, 1996 National Book Award Winner for "Ship Fever and Other Stories";聽Valeria Luiselli, "Faces in the Crowd"聽(Coffee House Press, May 2014), selected by Karen Tei Yamashita, 2010 National Book Award Finalist for "I Hotel";聽Kirstin Valdez Quade, "Night at the Fiestas"聽(W.W. Norton & Company, March 2015), selected by Andre Dubus III, 1999 National Book Award Finalist for "House of Sand and Fog."