Young Lions Fiction Award
“We started this prize because we wanted to be sure that there was a net for young writers,
a little net where you could get caught, where you’d know people cared.”
—Ethan Hawke, Co-Founder of the Young Lions Fiction Award
This Year's Finalists | Past Winners & Finalists | About the Award | Submission Guidelines
2024 Winner
The New York Public Library is proud to announce that E.J. Koh has won the 24th annual Young Lions Fiction Award for her book The Liberators. Learn more.
2024 Finalists
The finalists for the 24th annual Young Lions Fiction Award were:
- Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah for Chain-Gang All-Stars
- Monica Brashears for House of Cotton
- Eskor David Johnson for Pay As You Go
- E. J. Koh for The Liberators
- C Pam Zhang for Land of Milk and Honey
Judges: A. M. Homes, Caoilinn Hughes, Zain Khalid
Past Winners
The winner of the 2023 Young Lions Fiction Award was Zain Khalid. View previous winners and finalists.
About the Award
Established in 2001, The New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award is a $10,000 prize awarded each spring to a writer age 35 or younger for a novel or a collection of short stories. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of Young Lions members, writers, editors, and librarians. A panel of judges selects the winner.
Founded by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland—and 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—this annual award recognizes the work of young authors and celebrates their accomplishments publicly, making a difference in their lives as they continue to build their careers.
This prize is part of the Library's Young Lions program, a membership group for people in their 20s and 30s who are committed to supporting the organization and to celebrating young writers and artists who are making an impact on this city's cultural life.
The Young Lions Fiction Award is given each spring during a special ceremony at The New York Public Library.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions for the 2025 Young Lions Fiction Award are now open. You can view the sumbission guidelines here. For any questions about submitting work for the Young Lions Fiction Award, please contact the Young Lions office at 212.930.0519 or younglions@nypl.org.
