Some speculations on the New Yorker’s 20 writers under 40

A couple weeks back, the internet was abuzz with news that the New Yorker would be releasing a new “20 Writers Under 40” issue for the first time in about a decade. You see, while Vanity Fair and magazines of that ilk are always pumping out features about the “new generation” of “hot, young” Hollywood actresses or rock musicians, fiction writers are usually left out of these vain, somewhat meaningless popularity contests. Some writers might even pretend that they’re too busy hanging out in the dusty stacks of a library somewhere to “care,” but, honestly, who doesn’t like a vain, somewhat meaningless popularity contest every once in a while? It can be a career-changing nod and, besides, it also means that the New Yorker will be publishing a ton of good, new fiction in the month of June.

The New York Observer jumped on the story hard, getting interviews about the demographic breakdown, the influence of other lists, the bummer that Sam Lipsyte is just one year too old, and, inevitably, the “haters.” The thing they haven’t been able to get is the actual list, which the New Yorker is being seriously tight-lipped about. HTMLGiant is running a contest for the best prediction. Book Fox has some pretty good guesses.

Some thoughts about who will or won’t be on the list after the jump.