Announcing the 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalists
We are pleased to announce the finalists for the twentieth annual Young Lions Fiction Award, honoring the works of five talented young authors.
The finalists for the 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award are:
Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
Beautifully written, and marked by its aching humanity as much as its growing sense of dread, Your House Will Pay is a powerful and moving family story.
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
This powerful novel provides a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
A page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young Black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.
Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang
An anthology of 12 stunning short stories of love, family, and identity, which star East Asian characters.
Lot by Bryan Washington
With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot is about love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.
NYPL cardholders can find these books on SimplyE, the Library's free e-reader app. Plus, new users who live in New York State can apply for a library card directly through the app. Learn more and download for iPad/iPhone and Android.
Which book do you think should win? Join the conversation on social media using #NYPLYoungLions!
About the Young Lions Fiction Award
Founded in 2001 by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland, the Young Lions Fiction Award is given annually to an American writer age 35 or younger for either a novel or a collection of short stories. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of writers, editors, and librarians. A panel of award judges—which this year includes 2019 winner Ling Ma—will select the winner of this year's $10,000 prize
Past winners of the Young Lions Fiction Award include: Ling Ma, Severance; Lesley Nneka Arimah, What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky; Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs; Amelia Gray, Gutshot; Molly Antopol, The UnAmericans; Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated; and Colson Whitehead, John Henry Days.
The Award is made possible by an endowment created with generous gifts from Russell Abrams, Nina Collins, Hannah and Gavin McFarland, Ethan Hawke, Stephan Loewentheil, Rick Moody, Andrea Olshan, and Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.
About the Young Lions
The Young Lions is a special membership group for people in their 20s and 30s who love literature, a good cocktail, and the Library. Membership provides critical support to the Library's Book Fund, which ensures all New Yorkers have access to books, e-books, and other essential resources, completely free of charge.