If Granta Magazine is to be trusted, many of the most promising voices in American fiction are Jewish.
The literary journal’s 2017 list of the best American novelists under 40, the most recent installation of its once-per-decade assessment, includes Joshua Cohen, Sana Krasikov, Rachel B. Glaser, and Ben Lerner.
Other members of the 21-person list include Yaa Gyasi, winner of the National Book Critics Circle’s 2016 John Leonard Award and Emma Cline, a finalist for the same honor.
Previous recipients of the honor have included Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss, Dara Horn and Anthony Doerr.
Cohenand Krasikov have both previously written for the Forward. Lerner, a recipient of a 2015 MacArthur “Genius” Award, was named to the 2015 Forward 50.
“For the first time ever, there are more women than men on the list: twelve to nine,” Granta publisher and editor Sigrid Rausing wrote in an introduction to the issue announcing the list. “In 2007, immigrant writers were more prominent: seven had been born or raised in other countries. This time, only four of the writers were born abroad,” she added.
To sample the novelists’ work, access the digital issue here.
Correction: This story has been updated to remove references to Lauren Groff, who is not Jewish.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!