Art and literature have always been a mirror reflecting the complex chaos of the human experience. In 2025, it’s Time Authors of our latest class have made waves with their innovative storytelling and incisive points-of-view. Notable among them are Susan Choi, Olivia De Zilva, Solvej Balle, Arundhati Roy, Hannah Kent and Ling Ling Huang. Their books explore genre and theme, providing windows into the intimacies of family, the violence of cultural entanglement, and the poetics of existential struggle.
Susan Choi, a former fact checker at The New Yorker, continues to enrich the literary landscape with her six novels. Her most recent book, FLASHLIGHT, will hook readers from the beginning and doesn’t let go with its riveting narrative. Olivia De Zilva’s charming debut novel takes readers into the laughter, heartbreak and awkwardness of growing up. It stitches together familial, generational, and cultural threads that tug at the heart strings and feel so relatable to today’s audiences.
Solvej Balle has readers spellbound with her enormous seven-volume project of novels. This amazing odyssey started as a mere concept back in 1987. This time-loop story explores the nature of existence and the human condition through intricate narratives.
Diverse Narratives from Established and Emerging Voices
Arundhati Roy, renowned for winning the Booker Prize in 1997 for “The God of Small Things,” has added another layer to her literary repertoire. She recently penned a memoir that examines her complicated relationship with her mother, offering readers a glimpse into her personal struggles and triumphs.
Kent’s path to writing started the summer when she was sent to Iceland on a Rotary Exchange at the age of 17. This transformative experience would prove to have a profound impact on her creative output, inspiring her to write a memoir that examines the everyday life of Iceland. In doing so, through her lyrical prose she evokes the beauty and spirit of a region that has indelibly inspired her roots.
Ling Ling Huang, concert violinist turned author, makes a similar dramatic case in her story “Immaculate Conception.” Through its compelling journey into the convergence of tech and the art world, this groundbreaking novel challenges readers to consider the most pressing issues facing our society today.
“Whenever I’m stuck writing, I go and practice violin, and it unspools my mind.” – Ling Ling Huang
Themes of Connection and Disconnection
Olivia De Zilva’s debut novel is a gem, a gorgeous exploration of connection and disconnection. It is most compelling as a meditation on our inability to form meaningful connections in an ever-more splintering society. Her extensive background as a writer and editor has sharpened her skills as a storyteller. She does an incredible job of adding levity to even the heaviest subjects.
“Humour is everything. I’d rather make people laugh than make them cry.” – Olivia De Zilva
At the same time, Susan Choi’s “Flashlight” challenges readers to face the uncertainty of their own truths and lives. Through this lens, the narrative artfully stitches together personal experiences with larger societal themes. Choi’s skillful mix of wit with weighty subject matter creates a subtle yet authentic portrait of human connections.
Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore opened with such a haunting and immediate hook—a woman being washed ashore on an island in the sub-Antarctic. This intense prologue places readers firmly in a world where humanity must confront instincts of self-perseveration and the tenacity of the human spirit when faced with nature’s capriciousness.
Reflections on Identity and Existence
Solvej Balle’s immensely ambitious seven-volume saga of time loops and detours, echoes and gaps, existential questions that have haunted since 1987. Her engagement with these themes is strikingly relevant to today’s readers, who continue to deal with the shifting notions of time and self that she thematizes.
Hannah Kent’s recent memoir about her year living in Iceland helps deepen and expand the discussion about identity. She weaves aspects of her life as a foreigner in the country into rich sketches of everyday life. Alongside this, she digs into more profound tones of connection to space and heritage.
Arundhati Roy’s extended memoir on her complicated relationship with her mother gives readers deep, passionate insights into the intersecting forces that complicate and construct personal identities. Familial ties that are supposed to be nurturing can be toxic and abusive. This paradoxical state of existence is familiar to many modern day Oaxacans today.
“Get out of my house. Get out of my car. Get out of my life.” – Arundhati Roy’s mother
