The New York Public Library is proud to announce that Bryan Washington has won the twentieth annual Young Lions Fiction Award for his book Lot.

This year's finalists, all available to purchase from the Library Shop, were:

• Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay
• Julia Phillips, Disappearing Earth
• Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age
• Xuan Juliana Wang, Home Remedies
• Bryan Washington, Lot

Watch one-on-one interviews with the finalists and browse their recommended reading lists.

Debuting in 2001, the Young Lions Fiction Award is given each year to an American writer age 35 or younger for either a novel or a collection of short stories. Five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a committee of writers, editors, and librarians. A panel of award judges selects the winner of the $10,000 prize. This year's judges included 2019 Fiction Award winner Ling Ma; 2019/2020 Cullman Fellow at the NYPL's Center for Scholars and Writers fiction writer Mitchell Jackson; and esteemed actor and Fiction Award co-founder Ethan Hawke.

"As a kid, I went to the library every weekend. It was how I learned English, and how I realized the possibility of alternative worlds. The library was so essential to me that my first job in high school was shelving books at one, partly because I loved being around its culture and community. It was an honor to be awarded the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award, which year after year has selected my favorite writers among its slate of finalists," said Ling Ma, last year's winner and a judge for the 2020 award.

Past winners of the Young Lions Fiction Award include: Ling Ma, Severance; Colson Whitehead, John Henry Days; Anthony Doerr, The Shell Collector; Monique Truong, The Book of Salt; and Uzodinma Iweala, Beasts of No Nation. Past nominees have included: Brit Bennett, The Mothers; Ander Monson, Other Electricities; Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Friday Black; Nicole Dennis-Benn, Here Comes the Sun; and Andrew Ladd, What Ends.

The New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award was founded by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland. 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.

The Young Lions is a membership group for New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s who are committed to supporting the work of the Library. Each season, members enjoy exclusive events that feature writers and leaders in the arts, politics, business, law, and the media. Through presenting dynamic events and contributing to the General Book Fund, the Young Lions are integral to the life of the Library and its future.