Books exploring masculinity and life as an immigrant have been shortlisted for an award previously won by authors including Sally Rooney and Zadie Smith.
Moses McKenzie’s second novel, Fast By The Horns, about black immigrant life and the Rastafari community in 1980s England, is one of four books in the running to win the Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer Of The Year Award.
The prize is given annually to the best work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author of 35 or under with the winner receiving a prize sum of £10,000.
Another shortlisted book is Rural Hours by Harriet Baker which tells the story of three influential writers – Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann – who are transformed by moving to the countryside.
Also featured is Scott Preston’s debut novel, The Borrowed Hills, where foot and mouth disease spreads across the hills of Cumbria, leading to farmers losing their sheep.
The last book shortlisted is Strange Relations: Masculinity, Sexuality And Art In Mid-Century America by Ralf Webb which explores the lives and works of four queer writers – James Baldwin, John Cheever, Tennessee Williams and Carson McCullers – and argues for a version of masculinity grounded in love and intimacy.
Chairwoman of the judging panel, Johanna Thomas-Corr said: “Here are four unforgettable new voices in fiction and non-fiction who possess thrilling potential.
“They are all offering us new angles on the world and doing it with such intelligence and conviction.”
The Barbican Centre will be hosting the annual shortlisted event, chaired by former winner Smith, on Monday, March 17.
The winner of the £10,000 sum will be announced on Tuesday, March 18 at a ceremony in east London.
