Olga Grushin Wins 2007 NYPL Young Lions Book Award

by Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 5/29/2007 8:25:00 AM

Olga Grushin May 22 snagged this year’s New York Public Library (NYPL) Young Lions Fiction Award, taking the $10,000m prize for her debut novel, The Dream Life of Sukhanov (Putnam). Grushin’s story of a Russian art critic taunted by the ghosts of his past edged out four other finalists: Chris Adrian for The Children’s Hospital (McSweeney’s); Kevin Brockmeier for The Brief History of the Dead (Pantheon); Tony D’Souza for Whiteman (Harcourt); and Karen Russell for St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (Knopf). The award was established in 2001 by the Young Lions, a membership group for library supporters in their 20s and 30s. NYPL claims it is the only major book prize that recognizes fiction by younger writers. LJ’s Barbara Hoffert interviewed Grushin when the novel came out, and it was also an LJ Best Book in 2006.