Author and filmmaker David Bezmozgis is one of the New Yorker magazine's \Author and filmmaker David Bezmozgis is one of the New Yorker magazine's "20 under 40." (David Leyes/Canadian Press)

Toronto writers Rivka Galchen and David Bezmozgis have been selected by the New Yorker magazine for its "20 under 40" list of fiction writers it believes are worth watching.

Galchen, a Canadian-American author of Atmospheric Disturbances and Bezmozgis, author of Natasha and Other Stories, will appear in the list to be published in the Monday issue of the prestigious literary magazine.

It is the first time in a decade the New Yorker has published the list, which earlier drew attention to writers such as Jeff Eugenides, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen and Jhumpa Lahiri.

New Yorker editor David Remnick said the list was "meant to shine a light on writers and get people to pay attention." All those chosen are under age 40.

Bezmozgis, who is also writer-director of the film Victoria Day, said he doesn't know what to expect from the accolade.

"When they put a list like this together, they're serious about literature so it's a tremendous honour. People take notice. What it actually means down the road, I don't know," he told CBC News on Friday.

'A dream' comes true

Bezmozgis and the other writers chosen will also have short stories published in a summer issue of the magazine.

"Just to get a story published in the New Yorker is a dream," he said.

Bezmozgis has submitted an excerpt from his next book, which is scheduled to be published next April.

"The novel is about a family of Soviet Jews. It's set in 1978 in Rome — they're en route from the Soviet Union and they don't know it at the time but they're going to Canada," he said.

"So the book takes place over several months in Rome where they're just trying to figure out what life holds for them and where they're going to be."

The lives of Soviet Jews is familiar territory for Bezmozgis —his own family is from Russia and his Natasha and Other Stories is drawn from his own experiences adapting to life in Toronto.

"Sometimes a writer finds material that speaks to them so deeply and its theirs and it continues to compel you, so that's what you do," he said, adding that he feels a responsibility to "do it justice" as it is his own heritage.

Bezmozgis plans to move to New York for a year, after being offered a fellowship at the New York public library to research his next book.

The New Yorker editors choose the diverse list, which includes British and African writers, among them:

  • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Chris Adrian
  • Daniel Alarcon
  • Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
  • Joshua Ferris
  • Jonathan Safran Foer
  • Nell Freudenberger
  • Nicole Krauss
  • Yiyun Li
  • Dinaw Mengestu
  • Philipp Meyer
  • C.E. Morgan
  • Tea Obreht
  • Z Z Packer
  • Karen Russell
  • Salvatore Scibona
  • Gary Shteyngart
  • Wells Tower.