Eustace Tilly, who did not make the list
Yesterday the New Yorker announced its top 20 writers under 40, who will be featured in the June 14 & June 21 fiction issue. This is the first time the publication has made such a list since 1999—a list that included now-notables like Junot Diaz and Jhumpa Lahiri.
The 2010 list includes writers from around the world and an equal number of men and women. Most are fairly well known, no surprise when you’re trying to pick the generation’s best. Still, there were a few surprises (Téa Obreht, who has published one story in the New Yorker. We can only assume they read her forthcoming novel, The Tiger’s Wife. No pressure, Téa!) and a few authors that definitely deserve more mainstream attention (Rivka Galchen, Yiyun Li, David Bezmozgis, Daniel Alarcón and Karen Russell get my vote here). Of course, as the New York Observer wittily, well, observed, in this slideshow, anyone too old, “downmarket,” moonlighting or scandal-courting need not apply.
Anyone you think the New Yorker missed?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 32
Chris Adrian, 39
Daniel Alarcón, 33
David Bezmozgis, 37
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38
Joshua Ferris, 35
Jonathan Safran Foer, 33
Nell Freudenberger, 35
Rivka Galchen, 34
Nicole Krauss, 35
Yiyun Li, 37
Dinaw Mengestu, 31
Philipp Meyer, 36
C.E. Morgan, 33
Téa Obreht, 24
Z Z Packer, 37
Karen Russell, 28
Salvatore Scibona, 35
Gary Shteyngart, 37
Wells Tower, 37
