National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 as a Resource for Trends and Reading Suggestions

Every year one of my favorite lists is the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 list. It's not that I think you have to be young to be a great writer, but I love how established writers get to pick 1 young author to promote to the entire world. I love this list for it's RA Service implications and for what you can learn and use from the backlist. Below I explain with 5 reasons, why you should like and use this list all year long too.

Click here to see the 2018 list of 5 Under 35 and read why each established author chose that person.  Also click here for Ron Charles' coverage of the list in the Washington Post. He interviewed each of the awarded authors.

First, as someone who is professionally charged with identifying the very best horror authors to advocate for in libraries, I understand how daunting the job of picking these winners is. I understand how badly you feel that you cannot support everyone no matter how well they write. So I respect the jury who picked the 5 authors and understand how they feel. I will not participate in the backlash some are giving them.

Which leads me to my second reason I love this list. It is not just the young authors who are being highlighted, the established authors are also a great resource. This year, they all happen to be authors I have read and enjoyed personally, and at least 1 is a past 5 Under 35 winners themselves. And, honestly, when it comes to the average library patron, I would use the opportunity of the list being announced to push the jury as much, or maybe even more, than the winners because you will be sure to already have the books by the jury members. I would highly suggest buying the books by all 5 of this year's winners though [and you can see the fourth reason paragraph for why].

Third, the essays by the jury members as to why they picked the author they did are an amazing resource. You learn a lot about the appeal of the author they are advocating for. Of course these short essays are extremely well written; these are established award winning authors doing the writing. But from these pieces we come to understand how these winners write and why readers would like them. You have enough here to book talk these emerging authors to new patrons, but you also learn much abut the established author too.  If you take the time to read all of the information, it is really fascinating and useful. I even felt like I learned more about Colson Whitehead, a writer I have read for years, heard speak multiple times in person, and even met.

Fourth, the backlist is amazing. Seriously. Even more amazing than backlists usually are, and many of you know how excited I get about the backlist in general. You can access the winners and the authors who chose them going back to 2006 from the main 5 Under 35 page-- at all times [lower left gutter]. I scanned all of the lists and WOW, did they identify some amazing authors who are household names now. Yes, there are a few who never broke through, but it is amazing how many have. And also, the list of jury members is amazing too. You can easily use the backlist list of winners and jury members to help readers identify good under the radar reads, especially for your literary fiction and book club selection readers. You can also make a display of current and past winners and even include their books since they were a designee.

And fifth, and finally, while going through the backlist, I was struck by how on point the authors- both winners and juries- and the titles that were chosen predicted some of the larger issues in the world of books. For example, even going back to 2006, the list of 5 Under 35 winners is way less white and male than the norm for the times. There were always women and AOC being honored, even before there was push to do so. I also noticed the beginnings of this creeping of speculative elements into literary fiction that we see all of the time now in the progression of authors chosen. I am sure if I had more time I would notice even more trends that we see now poking through with the parade of young writers.

The point being, you can spend your time ignoring this list because the authors are "too emerging" for you library if you want, but that would be a mistake for many reasons-- 5 of which I gave you here. Also, I am reading people poo-pooing the list because you don't have to be young to be a great new writer. Again, I think I have addressed this issue in this post too. It is not just the current, young writers who are worth your attention here; it is the entire program and all of the authors it brings together that matter.

No award, list, or even resource is perfect, but if all you do is find fault with them, you will never learn what is useful from any of them. So spend some time with the 5 Under 35 site now while it is in the news and in the front of our patrons' mind.