Are these Britain’s best 20 novelists under 40?
Who are the defining literary voices of this country? Lorna Bradbury presents 20 writers under 40 to watch
By Lorna Bradbury in The Telegraph
Published: 18 Jun 2010

Ledt - Zadie Smith is one of our best 20 British writers under 40

When the New Yorker magazine published its list of 20 American fiction writers under the age of 40 last week, there was a predictably anguished response. “So tedious, so predictable. When will the New Yorker realise that its moment of cultural authority has passed?” fumed one commentator.

And this was not untypical. “So what are people over 40? Chopped liver?” “Any new writers on this list?” asked another, responding to the selection of established writers such as Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan Safran Foer and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – who are familiar, though less so, over here.

Given the fact that it has been nearly a decade since Granta’s last “Best of Young British Novelists” list, we set ourselves the challenge of coming up with a selection of novelists to rival the New Yorker’s. In compiling our list we have taken suggestions from a range of contributors and staff – and we offer it up to you in turn as a challenge. If the exercise gives us a snapshot of what our most exciting young novelists are doing right now, it also raises questions about what any list might say about a country’s writing, and about the differences in fiction on each side of the Atlantic.

In its “20 under 40” list, the New Yorker has been careful not to present its selection of writers as the “best”, as Granta does. Yet the implication is that they are the defining voices – the writers who stand out from their generation, and who will be read in 20 or even 50 years’ time. There is clearly a lot at stake, as the New Yorker list is big business, with millions of dollars riding on future book sales of the authors who have made it. This might explain why critics have been quick to question the New Yorker’s decision to champion “representative” fiction, or to stick doggedly to a cut-off point of 39 (thus disqualifying a writer such as Dave Eggers, who has just turned 40) or to limit the writers who might be included by requiring that they have a piece ready for immediate publication in the magazine.

John Freeman, the editor of Granta, whose next “Best of Young British Novelists” list will appear in 2013, is impressed with the New Yorker’s selection. “It is counterintuitive and extremely varied, rather than representing a particular voice or writing school,” he says. “When the last New Yorker list came out in 1999, it came and went. But it seems more organised this time and has made a big splash.”

Lindsay Duguid, the fiction editor of the Times Literary Supplement, concedes that although lists are “intrinsically vulgar”, it is good for novelists to know that their names are appearing somewhere other than on a dust jacket. And Lorin Stein, the editor of the Paris Review agrees. “The list is a good snapshot of what the New Yorker is looking for these days,” he says, “and it includes some of my own favourite younger writers.”
Link to The Telegraph for the rest of the story.