Young Lions Prize to Uzodinma Iweala

Ethan Hawke, the master of ceremonies for last night’s New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, pokes his head out from behind the assembled nominees: Eric Puchner, Kelly Link, Ander Monson, and Rattawut Lapcharoensap (by an awesome coincidence, short story writers all). Of course, the one author I didn’t manage to get in the shot is the fellow who actually won: Uzodinma Iweala (below), or as Hawke playfully announced after struggling with his name at the podium, “Do people call you Uzo? I’m going to call you Uzo, alright?” Actor Terence Howard did a stellar job of reading an excerpt from Iweala’s novel, Beasts of No Nation, while Hawke and Famke Janssen read passages from the other nominees’ work.

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