AWARDS
June 15 – June 22, 2006 Edition

Iweala Wins NY Library’s Young Lion Prize

NEW YORK NY/6/08/06—The New York Public Library named Uzodinma Iweala, author of the novel Beasts of No Nation (HarperCollins), as the winner of its annual Young Lions Fiction Award. The $10,000 annual award honors writers under the age of 35. Founders are Actor Ethan Hawke, Hannah McFarland, Rick Moody and Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.

Hawke, Famke Janssen and Terrence Howard read selections from Iweala’s novel and four other award entries, including Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s Sightseeing (Grove Press); Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners (Small Beer Press); Ander Monson’s Other Electricities (Sarabande Books); and Eric Puchner’s Music Through the Floor (Scribner).

Library President Paul LeClerc said at the ceremony that in a publishing world of immense mediocrity, it was comforting to see such powerful writing and strong voices among the nominees.

The award was established in 2001.