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“She wasn’t sure if we were real, but nothing about us felt false.” Akwaeke Emezi, a 2018 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree nominated by Carmen Maria Machado, reads from their debut novel, Freshwater (Grove Press, 2018). The novel has been longlisted for the 2019 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.
“Then, before you’re gone, you know that all that’s ever been will still be, even if there are no tomorrows.” Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, a 2018 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree nominated by Colson Whitehead, reads the last page of his story “Through the Flash” from his debut story collection, Friday Black (Mariner Books, 2018).
“Mom always went up the mountain and down the valley so I decide that’s what we’ll do too.” Lydia Kiesling, a 2018 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, reads from her debut novel, The Golden State (MCD, 2018), for the ZYZZYVA series at Green Apple Books on the Park in San Francisco.
Weike Wang speaks with Mary Laura Philpott of A Word on Words about her debut novel, Chemistry (Knopf, 2017), and why her main character doesn’t have a name. Wang is a 2017 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and a recipient of a 2018 Whiting Award in fiction.
In this video, Halle Butler reads her short story “The Restaurant Business” alongside her illustrations at the Brain Frame performative comics and zine series in Chicago. Butler is the author of the debut novel, Jillian (Curbside Splendor, 2015), and a 2017 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree.
Angela Flournoy reads from her debut novel, The Turner House (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015), and speaks about family, food, and her writing process for Well-Read Black Girl. Flournoy is one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 for 2015.
Megan Kruse reads from her debut novel, Call Me Home (Hawthorne Books, 2015), for the Burnt Tongue reading series in Portland, Oregon. Kruse is one of the honorees for the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 for 2015.
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi reads from her novel Fra Keeler (Dorothy, 2012) at an event for the BONK! performance series in Racine, Wisconsin. The author is one of the honorees for the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 for 2015.
"As readers we can't simply witness or observe a book from afar—we have to live inside it, we have to go through it, and every time we do, we expand a version of our own lives." Carrie Brownstein talks about the relationship between readers, books, and writers in her introduction to the 2013 National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 ceremony. Brownstein's debut memoir, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl (Riverhead Books, 2015), is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tracy O'Neill's debut novel, published by Ig Publishing, explores the life of a sixteen-year-old ice skating prodigy after a traumatic injury. O'Neill is one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 for 2015.
