Join the 2025 5 Under 35 honorees for an evening of readings and celebration!

The 2025 honorees Stacie Shannon Denetsosie (The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories), Megan Howell (Softie), Maggie Millner (Couplets: A Love Story), Alexander Sammartino (Last Acts), and Jemimah Wei (The Original Daughter) will read from their debut works of fiction. The honorees will be introduced on stage by their selectors—five literary luminaries previously honored by the National Book Foundation: Mona Susan Power, Deesha Philyaw, C Pam Zhang, George Saunders, and Morgan Talty. Read more about this year’s honorees and selectors here.

Hosted by Justin Torres, 2012 5 Under 35 Honoree and Winner of the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction.

Books will be available on site thanks to Books Are Magic. This is a 21+ event, and tickets are available for sale here.

For accessibility requests and questions, please email awards@nationalbook.org.

The National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 program is supported by Amazon Literary Partnership.