Literary Masters of the Future

There's an interesting article in the New York Times today about The New Yorker's upcoming issue in which twenty fiction writers under the age of forty are named as "ones to watch."

Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/books/03under.html?hpw

According to the NY Times article, this is a big deal because it's been over ten years since The New Yorker last named any "writers to watch." So, looking at that list is pretty interesting. Jhumpa Lahiri was on it, one of my favorite authors. Have you read Interpreter of Maladies or The Namesake? How about Unaccustomed Earth? I have a very funny story about calling into NPR when Michael Krasny was interviewing Jhumpa on Forum. Remind me to tell it to you sometime.

Another fave on that list: Junot Diaz. We all loved The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but how about his collection of short stories, Drown? Have you read that?

Jeffrey Eugenides was on it (loved Middlesex!), as was Nathan Englander, one of my favorite short story authors.

I am going to take a close look at this year's list--if the last list is anything to go by, The New Yorker knows what it's talking about. Perhaps we'll all read these "writers to watch" in our future Literary Masters book groups!