June 13, 2025, 11:57am

Final evening on the New York Public Library, Alexander Sammartino received the Younger Lions Fiction award for his debut novel Final Acts. This was the twenty fifth yr of the Younger Lions Award, which comes with a $10,000 prize.

Final Acts follows a person burdened with a failing gun retailer and a son recovering from a near-fatal overdose. The delicate relationship between the daddy and son is examined as they conspire to outrun chapter and obtain some form of American dream by way of a collection of misadventures and hijinks.

Sammartino was chosen out of a bunch of 5 finalists which additionally included ‘Pemi Aguda’s Ghostroots, Eliza Barry Callahan’s The Listening to Take a look at, Santiago Jose Sanchez’s Hombrecito, and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s Catalina.

The award ceremony on the NYPL’s midtown department was emceed by Penn Badgley—there was a minutes-long gasp-and-chatter delay when it was introduced he was internet hosting. Apparently, the character Badgley performed on Gossip Woman was a finalist for the Younger Lions Award, which made for a meta, full circle second. A range from every of the finalists’ novels was learn by a star-studded line-up of Tyler Foggatt, Millicent Simmonds, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Fran Tirado, and Alexa Barajas.

The New York Public Library Younger Lions Fiction Award was created 25 years in the past by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland. Sammartino joins previous winners E.J. Koh, Zain Khalid, Kalani Pickhart, Catherine Lacey, Ling Ma, and extra.