Book News: NYPL Names Young Lions Fiction Finalists

Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 3/25/2008 9:53:00 AM

• Honors novelists/short story writers 35 and under
• Winner receives $10,000 purse
• Librarians among judges

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has revealed the names of the five contenders for its Young Lions Fiction Award. “The Young Lions Fiction Award was conceived to highlight the diverse talent of young writers working in our city and our country today,” said NYPL president Paul LeClerc. The $10,000 award is given annually to an American writer age 35 or younger for either a novel or collection of short stories, with five young fiction writers short listed as finalists by a reading committee of Young Lions members, writers, editors, and librarians.

This year’s finalists are:

• Ron Currie Jr., God Is Dead (Viking)
• Ellen Litman, The Last Chicken in America (Norton)
• Peter Nathaniel Malae, Teach the Free Man (Swallow Pr.)
• Dinaw Mengestu, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (Riverhead)
• Emily Mitchell, The Last Summer of the World (Norton)

The winner will be announced April 28.