Young Lions Fiction Award
The Young Lions Fiction Award is an annual US literary prize of $10,000, awarded to a writer who is 35 years old or younger for a novel or collection of short stories.[1][2] The award was established in 2001 by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, Hannah McFarland, and the New York Public Library. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of Young Lions members (a New York Public Library membership aimed at people in their 20s and 30s[3]), writers, editors, and librarians. A panel of judges selects the winner.[1][4]
Recipients
| Year | Author | Title | Result | Judges |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Mark Z. Danielewski | House of Leaves | Winner[5] | Michael Chabon, A.M. Homes, Francine Prose |
| David Ebershoff | The Danish Girl | Finalist | ||
| Myla Goldberg | Bee Season | Finalist | ||
| Heidi Julavits | The Mineral Palace | Finalist | ||
| Akhil Sharma | An Obedient Father | Finalist | ||
| Darin Strauss | Chang and Eng | Finalist | ||
| 2002 | Colson Whitehead | John Henry Days | Winner[6] | Andrea Barrett, Mark Z. Danielewski, Jonathan Lethem |
| David Czuchlewski | The Muse Asylum | Finalist | ||
| Allegra Goodman | Paradise Park | Finalist | ||
| Peter Orner | Esther Stories | Finalist | ||
| Brady Udall | The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint | Finalist | ||
| 2003 | Anthony Doerr | The Shell Collector | Winner[7] | Joyce Carol Oates, Caryl Phillips, Colson Whitehead |
| Jonathan Safran Foer | Everything Is Illuminated | Winner[7] | ||
| Adam Johnson | Emporium | Finalist | ||
| Ben Marcus | Notable American Women | Finalist | ||
| Peter Rock | The Ambidextrist | Finalist | ||
| 2004 | Monique Truong | The Book of Salt | Winner[8] | Anthony Doerr, Jonathan Safran Foer, Maureen Howard |
| Jordan Ellenberg | The Grasshopper King | Finalist | ||
| Susan Choi | American Woman | Finalist | ||
| Lara Vapnyar | There Are Jews in My House | Finalist | ||
| Maile Meloy | Liars and Saints | Finalist | ||
| 2005 | Andrew Sean Greer | The Confessions of Max Tivoli | Winner[5] | Siri Hustvedt, Colum McCann, Monique Truong |
| Marc Bojanowski | The Dog Fighter | Finalist | ||
| Sarah Shun-lien Bynum | Madeleine Is Sleeping | Finalist | ||
| Stephen Elliott | Happy Baby | Finalist | ||
| Aaron Gwyn | Dog on the Cross | Finalist | ||
| 2006 | Uzodinma Iweala | Beasts of No Nation | Winner[9] | Rick Moody, Edmund White, Andrew Sean Greer |
| Rattawut Lapcharoensap | Sightseeing | Finalist | ||
| Kelly Link | Magic for Beginners | Finalist | ||
| Ander Monson | Other Electricities | Finalist | ||
| Eric Puchner | Music Through the Floor | Finalist | ||
| 2007 | Olga Grushin | The Dream Life of Sukhanov | Winner[10] | Kathryn Harrison, Jeff Talarigo, Uzodinma Iweala |
| Chris Adrian | The Children's Hospital | Finalist | ||
| Kevin Brockmeier | The Brief History of the Dead | Finalist | ||
| Tony D'Souza | Whiteman | Finalist | ||
| Karen Russell | St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves | Finalist | ||
| 2008 | Ron Currie, Jr | God Is Dead | Winner[11] | Olga Grushin, Han Ong, Helen Schulman |
| Ellen Litman | The Last Chicken In America | Finalist | ||
| Peter Nathaniel Malae | Teach the Free Man | Finalist | ||
| Dinaw Mengestu | The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears | Finalist | ||
| Emily Mitchell | The Last Summer of the World | Finalist | ||
| 2009 | Salvatore Scibona | The End | Winner[12] | André Aciman, Lore Segal, Ron Currie, Jr. |
| Jon Fasman | The Unpossessed City | Finalist | ||
| Rivka Galchen | Atmospheric Disturbances | Finalist | ||
| Sana Krasikov | One More Year | Finalist | ||
| Zachary Mason | The Lost Books of the Odyssey | Finalist | ||
| 2010 | Wells Tower | Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned | Winner[7] | Amy Hempel, Rick Moody, Salvatore Scibona |
| Jedediah Berry | The Manual of Detection | Finalist | ||
| Katie Kitamura | The Longshot | Finalist | ||
| Philipp Meyer | American Rust | Finalist | ||
| C. E. Morgan | All the Living | Finalist | ||
| 2011 | Adam Levin | The Instructions | Winner[13] | Maile Chapman, Andrew Sean Greer, Kelly Link |
| John Brandon | Citrus County | Finalist | ||
| Patricia Engel | Vida Suzanne | Finalist | ||
| Suzanne Rivecca | Death Is Not an Option | Finalist | ||
| Teddy Wayne | Kapitoil | Finalist | ||
| 2012 | Karen Russell | Swamplandia! | Winner[14] | Álvaro Enrigue, A.M. Homes, Adam Levin |
| Teju Cole | Open City | Finalist | ||
| Benjamin Hale | The Evolution of Bruno | Finalist | ||
| Ben Lerner | Leaving the Atocha Station | Finalist | ||
| Jesmyn Ward | Salvage the Bones | Finalist | ||
| 2013 | Claire Vaye Watkins | Battleborn | Winner[15] | Karen Russell, John Wray, Peter Nathaniel Malae |
| Ramona Ausubel | No One Is Here Except All of Us | Finalist | ||
| Joshua Cohen | Four New Messages | Finalist | ||
| Katie Kitamura | Gone to the Forest | Finalist | ||
| Kevin Powers | The Yellow Birds | Finalist | ||
| 2014 | Paul Yoon | Snow Hunters | Winner[5] | Téa Obreht, Colm Tóibín, Claire Vaye Watkins |
| Matt Bell | In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods | Finalist | ||
| Jennifer duBois | Cartwheel | Finalist | ||
| Anthony Marra | A Constellation of Vital Phenomena | Finalist | ||
| Chinelo Okparanta | Happiness, Like Water | Finalist | ||
| 2015 | Molly Antopol | The UnAmericans | Winner[5] | Ayana Mathis, Rebecca Mead, Paul Yoon |
| Jesse Ball | Silence Once Begun | Finalist | ||
| Catherine Lacey | Nobody Is Ever Missing | Finalist | ||
| Andrew Ladd | What Ends | Finalist | ||
| Ben Lerner | 10:04 | Finalist | ||
| 2016 | Amelia Gray | Gutshot | Winner[5] | Molly Antopol, Joseph O'Neill, Alejandro Zambra |
| Angela Flournoy | The Turner House | Finalist | ||
| Alexandra Kleeman | You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine | Finalist | ||
| Helen Phillips | The Beautiful Bureaucrat | Finalist | ||
| Kirstin Valdez Quade | Night at the Fiestas | Finalist | ||
| 2017 | Karan Mahajan | The Association of Small Bombs | Winner[5] | Amelia Gray, Susan Minot, Salvatore Scibona |
| Clare Beams | We Show What We Have Learned | Finalist | ||
| Brit Bennett | The Mothers | Finalist | ||
| Nicole Dennis-Benn | Here Comes the Sun | Finalist | ||
| Kaitlyn Greenidge | We Love You Charlie Freeman | Finalist | ||
| 2018 | Lesley Nneka Arimah | What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky | Winner[5] | Carys Davies, Lynn Lobash, Karan Mahajan |
| Venita Blackburn | Black Jesus and Other Superheroes | Finalist | ||
| Gabe Habash | Stephen Florida | Finalist | ||
| Emily Ruskovich | Idaho | Finalist | ||
| Jenny Zhang | Sour Heart | Finalist | ||
| 2019 | Ling Ma | Severance | Winner[5] | Lesley Nneka Arimah, Tayari Jones, Marisa Silver |
| Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Friday Black | Finalist | ||
| Nick Drnaso | Sabrina | Finalist | ||
| Akwaeke Emezi | Freshwater | Finalist | ||
| Laura van den Berg | The Third Hotel | Finalist | ||
| 2020 | Bryan Washington | Lot | Winner[5] | Ethan Hawke, Mitchell Jackson, Ling Ma |
| Steph Cha | Your House Will Pay | Finalist | ||
| Julia Phillips | Disappearing Earth | Finalist | ||
| Kiley Reid | Such a Fun Age | Finalist | ||
| Xuan Juliana Wang | Home Remedies | Finalist | ||
| 2021 | Catherine Lacey | Pew | Winner[5] | Hernan Diaz, Emma Straub, Yahdon Israel |
| Meng Jin | Little Gods | Finalist | ||
| Hilary Leichter | Temporary | Finalist | ||
| Brandon Taylor | Real Life | Finalist | ||
| C Pam Zhang | How Much of These Hills Is Gold | Finalist | ||
| 2022 | Kalani Pickhart | I Will Die in a Foreign Land | Winner[5] | Venita Blackburn, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Catherine Lacey |
| Mateo Askaripour | Black Buck | Finalist | ||
| Alexandra Kleeman | Something Under the Sun | Finalist | ||
| Tom Lin | The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu | Finalist | ||
| Dantiel W. Moniz | Milk Blood Heat | Finalist | ||
| 2023 | Zain Khalid | Brother Alive | Winner[16] | Jessamine Chan, Claire Luchette, Kalani Pickhart |
| Fatimah Asghar | When We Were Sisters | Finalist[5] | ||
| Elaine Hsieh Chou | Disorientation | Finalist | ||
| Reyes Ramirez | The Book of Wanderers | Finalist | ||
| David Sanchez | All Day Is a Long Time | Finalist | ||
| 2024 | E. J. Koh | The Liberators | Winner[17] | A. M. Homes, Caoilinn Hughes, Zain Khalid |
| Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | Chain Gang All-Stars | Finalist[18] | ||
| Monica Brashears | House of Cotton | Finalist | ||
| Eskor David Johnson | Pay as You Go | Finalist | ||
| C Pam Zhang | Land of Milk and Honey | Finalist | ||
| 2025 | Alexander Sammartino | Last Acts | Winner[19] | Adam Levin, A.M. Homes, Álvaro Enrigue[20] |
| Pemi Aguda | Ghostroots | Finalist[21] | ||
| Eliza Barry Callahan | The Hearing Test | Finalist | ||
| Santiago Jose Sanchez | Hombrecito | Finalist | ||
| Karla Cornejo Villavicencio | Catalina | Finalist | ||
| 2026 | Carrie R. Moore | Make Your Way Home | Winner[22] | Raven Leilani, Alexander Sammartino, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah[23] |
| Ariel Courage | Bad Nature | Finalist[24] | ||
| Kyle Edwards | Small Ceremonies | Finalist | ||
| Harris Lahti | Foreclosure Gothic | Finalist | ||
| Stephanie Wambugu | Lonely Crowds | Finalist | ||
References
- 1 2 "2020 Young Lions Fiction Award". donate.nypl.org. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Catherine Lacey '10 Wins 2021 NYPL Young Lions Award". Columbia - School of the Arts. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Young Lions". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "The NYPL has announced the 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalists". Literary Hub. 2020-05-19. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Young Lions Award List of Winners and Finalists". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Colson Whitehead Biography - eNotes.com". eNotes. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- 1 2 3 "New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award Winners". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ BookBrowse. "Monique Truong author biography". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "SuperSummary". SuperSummary. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Olga Grushin : The Dream Life of Sukhanov : Book Review". mostlyfiction.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Ron Currie, Jr. : God is Dead : Book Review". mostlyfiction.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Books — Salvatore Scibona". Salvatore Scibona. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Adam Levin, novelist". Adam Levin. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Bio". Karen Russell. Archived from the original on 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Claire Vaye Watkins". Granta. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
- ↑ "Zain Khalid has won the 2023 Young Lions Award". LitHub. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "The 2024 Young Lions Fiction Award goes to E.J. Koh". LitHub. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "Here are the finalists for the NYPL's 2024 Young Lions Fiction Award". LitHub. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "Announcing the Winner of the 2025 Young Lions Fiction Award". nypl.org. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "2025 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalists". librarything.com. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "Announcing the 2025 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalists". nypl.org. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "Carrie R. Moore has won the 2026 Young Lions Fiction Award". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
- ↑ "Here are the finalists for the NYPL's 2026 Young Lions Fiction Award". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
- ↑ "2026 Winner & Finalists, Young Lions Fiction Award". nypl.org. Retrieved 2026-05-08. Updated 2026-06-16.