Granta Magazine has unveiled the 2023 version of its influential, once-in-a-decade list of the Best of Young British Novelists outlining a new generation of writers. Every ten years, Granta dedicates an issue to the twenty most significant British novelists under 40 and today announced the fifth generation of the chosen few, a cohort was selected by judges Tash Aw, Rachel Cusk, Brian Dillon, Helen Oyeyemi and Sigrid Rausing.

Fifteen of the 20 writers on the new list are women, ranging from Granta’s own Booker winner Eleanor Catton and more established authors such as Sara Baume and Olivia Sudjic, to those who have made an impression with just one published book such as Natasha Brown with Assembly and Jennifer Atkins with The Cellist. The roster also features Granta’s first non-binary writer, K Patrick, whose debut Mrs S isn’t published until the summer. Among the men featured on the list is Desmond Elliott Prize winner Derek Owusu.

Congratulations to Graeme Armstrong, Jennifer Atkins, Sara Baume, Sarah Bernstein, Natasha Brown, Eleanor Catton, Eliza Clark, Tom Crewe, Lauren Aimee Curtis, Camilla Grudova, Isabella Hammad, Sophie Mackintosh, Anna Metcalfe, Thomas Morris, Derek Owusu, K Patrick, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Saba Sams, Olivia Sudjic and Eley Williams.

The Best of Young British Novelists © Alice Zoo

The selection has a marked focus on authors at the very start of their careers and includes some whose work has hitherto had relatively little public attention.

Notably, the latest Granta list has also taken a far more flexible approach to what constitutes a "British" novelist, eschewing a rigid definition of being born in Britain or bearing a British passport, to include authors who have simply chosen to make their home here.

The next issue of Granta magazine, out on 27th April, will showcase the list, with a Foyles day festival for the authors taking place on 29th April. Also in the pipeline is an international tour with the British Council later this year, while a libraries tour is planned in partnership with The Reading Agency. 

www.granta.com