“ The age restriction was taken very seriously, however-not the case with the 1999 list, which had to be renamed at the last minute because it was discovered that several authors on it were not in fact under 40. “You could take them off the list but they were just so much at the heart of that generation,” said Mr. Buford, who oversaw the selection process. With the age rule being strictly enforced, a few authors who might have been thought shoo-ins could not be considered, such as Sam Lipsyte (41), Aleksander Hemon (45) and Dave Eggers, who turned 40 in March. Asked why he had decided to run the list now instead of at some other time, Mr. Remnick replied: “You know why we’re doing it this year? Because six months ago, I was brushing my teeth and thought, ‘God, you know, we haven’t done this in a while.” Sorry, Mr. Eggers!
May 13, 2010
