Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year

Each year the Sunday Times nominates a Young Writer of the year. Previous nominees have included Zadie Smith and Sarah Waters, among others, and the award provides a useful barometer of critical opinion. The award is open to British writers aged under 35, and this year's shortlist of four includes two first time novelists, Adam Foulds for The Truth about these Strange Times, and Nikita Lalwani for Gifted, both worth picking up now. Gifted has already been longlisted for the 2007 Booker prize and was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize.