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The writers are still under 35.
There are still 5 of them.
And their work is as rich and compelling as ever.
Chang on diversity:Theres no monolith Asian American identity.
Theres no monolith person of color in a white space experience.
There is this multiplicity of experiences, not only across different people but even within a single person.
There is a shifting of perspectives based off of context, based off of situation.
Selected by:Jason Mott, 2021 National Book Award winner for fiction.
Mott picked it because:Alexandra ChangsDays of Distractioncaptured me from the beginning.
Chang deserves to be read.
Back at his parents plate-lunch restaurant, the Chos fret that their son may never return from their homeland.
Han on playing with form:I wanted to create disruptive moments in the book … Because I very much believe that that is the condition of the Korean diaspora.
This is my way of creating unforgettable moments in the text.
Selected by:Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, 2015 5 Under 35 honoree.
This is a novel for the living, the dead, the living-dead, and everyone in between.
Description:Sixteen-year-oldHamei is trapped between the ocean and war in 1950 Busan, Korea.
Moving, elegant, and immersive.
Kim on the lives of Korean refugees:In many ways, I was raised through my grandmothers stories.
Selected by:Min Jin Lee, 2017 National Book Award finalist for fiction.
Description:In one story, a young womans widowhood charts an unexpected course for her life.
In another, ex-stepsiblings tiptoe toward an unlikely relationship.
Since finishing it, I have thought,What did I mean by that?
Is that exactly right?
And yet at the same time, self-consciousness furnishes us with an entire universe.
Selected by:Anthony Doerr, 2014 and 2021 National Book Award finalist for fiction.
Sebalds talent for asking the reader to draw connections between seemingly incongruous events.
Clunkier sex writing gets stuck in the left armhole, right armhole level of detail.
Selected by:Julia Phillips, 2019 National Book Award finalist for fiction.
Phillips picked it because:Alyssa SongsiridejsLittle Rabbitshocked me.
Its bold, frightening, and magnificent, a work deserving of this honor and many more.
