New York Times Names 20 Authors Under 40 to Watch

After a decade, the New York Times has presented a new list of authors under 40 that it describes as promising and "worth watching." The authors are 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, Téa Obreht, Z Z Packer, Karen Russell, Salvatore Scibona,Gary Shteyngart,and Wells Tower. In January, the newspaper's editors asked literary agents, publishers and other writers to suggest potential candidates. From those suggestions, the editors created a shortlist of about 40 eligible writers. A few well known writers, including Colson Whitehead and Dave Eggers, were not eligible due to their age. The shortlisted authors were required to submit new writing, such as a short story or an excerpt from a novel. Those who did not submit any writing were eliminated. The selected writers’ fiction will be printed in future New York Times magazines.
Adichie is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Purple Hibiscus and Half a Yellow Sun. Adrian,a pediatrician, is best known for his novel The Children's Hospital. In 2007, Alarcon's book Lost City Radio was selected as a best book of the year by many reviewers. Bezmozgis wrote Natasha and Other Stories, a collection vividly describing the ups and downs of immigrant life. Bynum's debut novel Madeleine is Sleeping was named a 2004 National Book Award Finalist. Ferris is best known for his novel, Then We Came to the End, a 2007 National Book Award Finalist. Foer's bestselling novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close received critical acclaim. Meyer's novel American Rust, a third person, stream of consciousness narrative, won several awards and was compared to James Joyce's work. It also made Newsweek's list of the Best of Books Ever. The New York Times selected Morgan's first novel All the Living for its Notable Books list; the title is from Ecclesiastes 9:3. In a rather surprising move, Obrent is on the list, yet her novel The Tiger's Wife will be published next year. However, excerpts have been published in the New Yorker. Chicago born Packer's short story collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, was a PEN/Faulkner Finalist. Critic Ben Marcus calls Karen Russell a "literary mystic"; she is best known for her short stroy collection St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Scibona's debut novel The End won several awards, including National Book Award Finalist. Shteyngart is known for his vast imagination; his novels The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan mix reality and absurdity. Tower's short story collection Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned reflects his belief that a writer "can be believably generous to a character, (a writer) can show somebody fumbling for redemption in a believable way."