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  1. Culture
4 June 2010

The New Yorker announces Top 20 Under 40

Are these the world's most promising young novelists?

By Alexandra Coghlan

For the first time in over a decade, the New Yorker has nominated its “20 Under 40” — a list of the most promising young fiction writers internationally.

Selected by the magazine’s editors, the list will appear in next Monday’s double fiction issue, and features a mixture of familiar names – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nicole Krauss, Gary Shteyngart — alongside some more obscure ones.

Here’s the complete list, with links to New Statesman reviews, interviews and extracts where available:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chris Adrian
Daniel Alarcón
David Bezmozgis
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Joshua Ferris
Jonathan Safran Foer
Nell Freudenberger
Rivka Galchen
Nicole Krauss
Yiyun Li
Dinaw Mengestu
Philipp Meyer
C E Morgan
Tea Obreht
Z Z Packer
Karen Russell
Salvatore Scibona
Gary Shteyngart
Wells Tower

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By a process that Deborah Treisman, the magazine’s fiction editor, described as a “rewarding accident”, the 2010 list includes an equal number of men and women — a dramatic shift from the 1999 line-up with its five female authors.

Aside from the writers ruled out by their age — Dave Eggers and Colson Whitehead are both slightly too old — there are some unusual omissions, most notably Zadie Smith. These idiosyncracies are perhaps explained by the list’s pragmatic selection procedure, which demanded a publishable extract or short story from all candidates; those unable to produce one were removed from the running.

Back in 2007, Granta produced its own picks for the top young American authors — a sequel to its 1996 list. It is perhaps surprising to find so much overlap, with a total of eight authors featuring on both lists.

When the New Yorker‘s list was last produced in 1999, it included future big-name authors such as David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen and Jhumpa Lahiri, boding well for this year’s favoured few.

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Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
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