A New Young Lion
By Michael Scharf -- Publishers Weekly, 5/22/2007 6:51:00 AM
Moscow-born writer Olga Grushin has won theYoung Lions Fiction Award for 2007 for her debut novel, The Dream Life of Sukhanov, a story of unfufilled artistic aspirations.
Grushin accepted the prize Monday evening, during a ceremony at the New York Public Library, where Ethan Hawke, a co-chair of the Young Lions committee, served as Master of Ceremonies. Hawke is a co-founder of the committee, a special membership group at the NYPL for members in their 20s and 30s that "celebrate[s] the work of young writers, artists, and intellectuals who are making an impact on our culture and society." The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize.Grushin, who was born in 1971, now lives is based in Washington D.C. She has served as former President Carter's personal interpreter and as an editor at Harvard's Dumbarton Oaks Research Library.
On accepting the award from New York Public Library president Dr. Paul Leclerc, Grushin noted that for many writers and artists "it is not an easy decision to continue" working, given the obstacles to having a career in the arts.
Grushin's novel follows an arts apparatchik who has exchanged his own artistic career for that of a comfortable functionary, and who looks back from middle age at his younger self's aspirations as Gorbachev comes to power and his life is turned upside down.
PW said that Grushin's novel "offers a powerful and richly detailed examination of late Soviet society's harsh confinements—even for those who had all the right connections."
The four other finalists were Chris Adrian's The Children's Hospital; Kevin Brockmeier's A Brief History of the Dead; Tony D'Souza's Whiteman; and Karen Russell's St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. The five finalists were chosen from a field of 125 authors of first fiction by a committee chaired by Elizabeth Gaffney that included Hawke and Rick Moody. The winner was chosen by a committee that included Kathryn Harrison, Jeff Talarigo and last year's winner, Uzodinma Iweala.
Selections from the five finalists were read by Ethan Hawke, Martha Plimpton, Robert Sean Leonard and John Lloyd Young to attendees numbering over 300.
The award, established in 2001, is given annually to an American writer age 35 or younger for a novel or story collection that has an "impact on today's culture and society."
Hawke, in discussing the Young Lions committee's founding seven years ago, noted that its goal with the award is to "cast a net into the literary community and catch a few writers and say: 'We noticed. Your work was not lost... you're the real thing'."
Previous winners include Monique Truong, Book of Salt; Anthony Doerr, The Shell Collector; Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated; Colson Whitehead, John Henry Days; and Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves.
Author photo by Tamara Beckwith
