Add to your reading list: Top 5 emerging female writers of 2017

Few joys match the pleasure of reading a well-crafted book and knowing the people behind it. Here, we make you meet five of the best emerging women writers of 2017 and their much-anticipated books. Time to update your reading lists.

Though it’s still time for International Women’s Day (March 8), there is no time better than now to celebrate promising females in fiction. Here, we introduce you to the five most talented emerging women writers of the modern world.

(From left) The most talked about women authors of 2017: Jenny Zhang, Samanta Schweblin, Maxine Beneba Clarke and Lesley Nneka Arimah.

From comedy to tragedy, exploring roots, sexuality and politics, women writers from the four corners of the world are poised to take the book world by storm this year.

Jess Arndt

Arndt’s debut collection Large Animals (Catapult) will be published in May 2017 and was named as one of the most anticipated books of the year by Elle. Taught by the world-reknowned writer and poet Maggie Nelson, Arndt should soon be a familiar name in bookshops.

Jenny Zhang

Novelist Jenny Zhang and the cover of her book Sour Heart.

Zhang’s Sour Heart (a collection of stories about a group of teenage girls in New York) is one of the two titles that Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner are using to launch their upcoming Lenny imprint in Summer 2017. Known for her taboo-breaking, unexpected and unafraid writing style, Zhang has already made her mark in poetry circles.

Novelist Maxine Beneba Clarke and the cover of her book Foreign Soul.

Another debutante to the literary ball, Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian writer with Afro-Caribbean origins. In her home country, her debut novel Foreign Soil (Atria/ 37 INK) has won the Debut Fiction Indie Award and the Literary Fiction Book of the Year.

Samanta Schweblin

Samanta Schweblin and the cover of her book Fever Dream.

Born in Argentina, Schweblin is already a big name in the Spanish-speaking world. Her haunting novel Fever Dream (Riverhead) is her first to be translated into English (by Megan McDowell) and is sure to earnan anglophone fanbase.

Lesley Nneka Arimah

Novelist Lesley Nneka Arimah and the cover of her book What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky.

Arimah’s name has been buzzing in the literary world since she was named a finalist for the National Magazine Award. The collection — What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky (Riverhead) — from which the nominated article was taken will be published in April 2017. It has been named one of the most anticipated books of 2017 by Time Magazine, Elle, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Millions, Nylon and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

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