The literary magazine Granta has revealed its Best of Young British Novelists list.
This is the fifth iteration of the list, which Granta presents every 10 years, honoring 20 authors under the age of 40. Selecting this year’s honorees were Tash Aw, Rachel Cusk, Brian Dillon, Helen Oyeyemi, and Sigrid Rausing.
For the first time, the honorees need not be British citizens but can be “authors who normally reside within the U.K.,” Granta said in a news release, noting that the new list “more fully represents British society as a whole.”
Tom Crewe, who made his literary debut in January with The New Life, appears on the list, along with Eleanor Catton, the Booker Prize–winning author of The Luminaries and Birnam Wood.
Sara Baume, the author of Spill Simmer Falter Wither, was honored by the magazine, as were Natasha Brown (Assembly), Camilla Grudova (The Doll’s Alphabet), Isabella Hammad (Enter Ghost), Sophie Mackintosh (Cursed Bread), and Derek Owusu (That Reminds Me).
Also making the list were Graeme Armstrong, Jennifer Atkins, Sarah Bernstein, Eliza Clark, Lauren Aimee Curtis, Anna Metcalfe, Thomas Morris, K Patrick, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Saba Sams, Olivia Sudjic, and Eley Williams.
The first Best of Young British Novelists list was unveiled in 1983. Past honorees have included Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Jeanette Winterson, Zadie Smith, Martin Amis, Kazuo Ishiguro, and David Mitchell.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
