We're pleased to announce the finalists for the seventeenth annual Young Lions Fiction Award, honoring the works of five commanding, diverse, young authors. From high-concept premises, to the exploration of heartbreaking family dynamics, each of these debut novels exemplifies the power of the written word. 

The finalists for 2017 Young Lions Fiction Award are:
 

Clare Beams, We Show What We Have Learned

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brit Bennett, The Mothers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kaitlyn Greenidge, We Love You Charlie Freeman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicole Dennis-Benn, Here Comes the Sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which book do you think should win? Join the conversation on social media using #NYPLYoungLions!

The winning writer will be awarded on June 1, 2017 at 7 PM during a ceremony held in the Celeste Bartos Forum of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Young Lions members are invited to attend the reception and ceremony. Learn more here.

 

About the Young Lions Fiction Award

Founded in 2001 The Young Lions Fiction Award is given annually to an American writer age 35 or younger for either a novel or collection of short stories.  Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of writers, editors, and librarians. A panel of award judges, including Susan Minot, Amelia Gray and Salvatore Scibona will select the winner of this year’s $10,000 prize.  Learn more here.

Past winners of the Young Lions Fiction Award include: Amelia Gray, Gutshot; Molly Antopol, The Unamericans; Paul Yoon,  Snow Hunters; Claire Vaye Watkins, Battleborn; Karen Russell, Swamplandia; Adam Levin, The Instructions; Wells Tower, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned; Salvatore Scibona, The End; Ron Currie, Jr., God is Dead; Olga Grushin, The Dream Life of Sukhanov; Uzodinma Iweala, Beasts of No Nation; Andrew Sean Greer, The Confessions of Max Tivoli; Monique Truong, Book of Salt; Anthony Doerr, The Shell Collector; Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated; Colson Whitehead, John Henry Days; and Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves.

Generous support for the Fiction Award is provided by 21st Century Fox & Book of the Month.