April 2, 2025, 12:05pm

The National Book Foundation announced the five writers under 35 whose debut novels or short story collections promise “to leave a lasting impression on the literary landscape.” This year’s 5 Under 35 honorees are short story writers, prose-poets, and novelists who have won numerous honors and positions in their still-budding careers.

Every year, the honorees are picked by a group of fellow writers, previously honored by the National Book Foundation who each select one book to champion. The honorees, their books, and their selectors, are:

Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories

Selected by Mona Susan Power for its “intense, brilliant energy — the well-crafted prose alternately poetic and stark, painting unforgettable scenes in striking detail”

Megan Howell, Softie

Selected by Deesha Philyaw for how “Megan so beautifully captures the heart going through the ringer while trying to survive.”

Maggie Millner, Couplets: A Love Story

Selected by C Pam Zhang, who found the stories “tender, prickly, funny, self-effacing, cerebral, erotic, and luminous.”

Alexander Sammartino, Last Acts

Selected by George Saunders for its “a sense of wry wonder that manifested as a pretty rare thing in fiction these days: genuine humor.”

Jemimah Wei, The Original Daughter

Selected by Morgan Talty for how it “transgress against the western arc of narrative,” and wrote that “there’s an element of transcendence to this book that’s hard to come by.”

You can read more from the winners and about why each selection was made over at Vulture.

This is the 20th anniversary of this program, which is sponsored by the Amazon Literary Partnership, and which awards each honoree a $1,250 prize—though surely Bezos can afford to pay them a bit more?