The National Book Foundation announced its new class of ‘5 Under 35’ honorees, the latest authors to be chosen for the program that recognizes “fiction writers under the age of 35 whose debut work promises to leave a lasting impression on the literary landscape.”
Each writer selected from the program was chosen by another author, either a previous 5 Under 35 honoree or an author who was longlisted, shortlisted, or won a National Book Award.
Mateo Askaripour, whose debut novel, Black Buck, was published in 2021, was chosen by Robert Jones, Jr., a National Book Award finalist for The Prophets.
National Book Award winner and finalist Louise Erdrich selected Chelsea T. Hicks, author of A Calm & Normal Heart, for the program.
Morgan Talty, whose debut short story collection, Night of the Living Rez, won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, was chosen by Karen Russell, an honoree in 2009.
Another previous 5 Under 35 honoree, Kirstin Valdez Quade, selected Jenny Xie, whose novel, Holding Pattern, is scheduled for publication in June.
And National Book Award finalist Jamil Jan Kochai picked Ada Zhang for the program; her debut short story collection, The Sorrows of Others, will be published next month.
The 5 Under 35 program was launched in 2006. Previous honorees have included Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, ZZ Packer, Charles Yu, and Akwaeke Emezi.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
