Yesterday, National Book Foundation revealed via Buzzfeed the young authors that make up this year's batch of honorees for the organization's 5 Under 35, which turned out to be former honorees in the accolade themselves. The winning writers were chosen by the preceding 5 under 35 honorees, but since it's the 10th year of the said program, they altered it quite a bit.
The first spot went to "Call Me Home" writer Megan Kruse, who was selected by Phil Klay. The author is known for her writing contributions both in the genre of fiction and nonfiction. According to Bustle, Kruse went to Oberlin College and the University of Montana to hone her writing skills. Readers should have seen her in Narrative Magazine, The Sun, Witness Magazine and many more.
Colin Barrett, the creative mind behind "Young Skins," was Paul Yoon's choice for 5 Under 35. Before he wrote books, Barrett worked at a mobile phone company. He studied creative writing and appeared in Irish literary journal The Stinging Fly back in 2009. "Young Skins" also earned him the 2014 Guardian first book award for his literary collection.
Another 5 Under 35 honoree is Tracy O' Neill, a young writer from Brooklyn, New York. She was chosen by Fiona Maazel. She isn't new to award shows, with the NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship by the Center for Fiction also choosing her as a winner back in 2012. O'Neill now writes for online publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle, Rollingstone, The Millions and Grantland.
"Fra Keeler" author and Whitting Writer's Award winner Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi is also an awardee that Dinaw Mengestu chose. As stated in her website, Oloomi lived in a lot of places namely Italy, Spain, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and the US. She appeared in Paris Review Daily, Guernica, The Believer, The American Reader and many others.
National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 list is completed with Angela Flournoy, the novelist behind "The Turner House" that ZZ Packer cherry-picked for the honor. Fluornoy was an instructor at University of Iowa and St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn. She is now preparing for to get her MFA at Southern New Hampshire University.
According to Bustle, all five authors will be awarded $1000 prize on Nov. 6 during the National Book Awards set at the PowerHouse Arena in Brooklyn, New York. They will also be participating in a special event in Miami, Florida in spring next year, as per Galley Cat.