The National Book Foundation Announces Its 2015 "5 Under 35" Honorees

NEW YORK - Oct. 5, 2015 - PRLog -- The National Book Foundation released the names of its 2015 5 Under 35 Honorees last week. In recognition of the program’s tenth anniversary, five acclaimed writers who were themselves previously recognized as 5 Under 35 Honorees made this year’s selections. The 2015 5 Under 35 Honorees are:

   ●     Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins (Black Cat / Grove Atlantic), selected by Paul Yoon

●     Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), selected by ZZ Packer

●     Megan Kruse, author of Call Me Home (Hawthorne Books), selected by Phil Klay

●     Tracy O’Neill, author of The Hopeful (Ig Publishing), selected by Fiona Maazel

●     Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, author of Fra Keeler (Dorothy, a publishing project), selected by Dinaw Mengestu

These five extraordinary writers will be honored at a ceremony hosted by LeVar Burton, Curator-in-Chief/Host of Reading Rainbow, on November 16, 2015 at powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn, NY. For the second year in a row, author Ben Greenman will emcee and columnist Rosie Schaap will guest bartend. 5 Under 35 is sponsored by Amazon Literary Partnerships, with additional event sponsorship from the New York Distilling Company. Each Honoree will receive a prize of $1,000 and will be invited to appear at a special event in Miami, FL in the Spring of 2016, in partnership with Miami Book Fair International.

“Over the past ten years, the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 program has established itself as a hallmark of emerging literary talent,” said Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation. “The writers we’ve recognized have established themselves among the most acclaimed and admired working today.”

5 Under 35 Honorees are writers under the age of 35 who have published one book of fiction—either a short story collection or novel—within the last five years. This year’s Honorees include a 2014 Whiting Award winner and have received fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, The Center for Fiction, and The Fulbright Program. Angela Flournoy’s The Turner House, is also currently longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction.

Previous Honorees include Danielle Evans, Nam Le, Valeria Luiselli, Karen Russell, Kirstin Valdez Quade, Justin Torres, Claire Vaye Watkins, and Tiphanie Yanique, as well as past National Book Award Finalist Téa Obreht and 2014 National Book Award Fiction Winner Phil Klay.

For bios of this year’s 5 Under 35 Honorees, Selectors, and Host, please visit www.nationalbook.org.