Monday night, on the second floor of the powerHouse Arena, Jonathan Lethem was spinning records for the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35,” a showcase of young novelists.

Stepping away from the DJ console freshly-shaven and wearing a sweater vest and T-shirt combo and glasses, Lethem was a shoe-in for the king of all rock nerds.

He pointed down at a scruffy and rumpled figure in the over-capacity crowd and said, “Richard Hell is here. So I just played ‘Love Comes in Spurts.’” Hell, the seminal punk rocker who’s now almost exclusively a writer, was the events emcee—a perfect foil for this MFA-choked crowd. Before introducing the night’s honorees, Hell cracked, “This is the closest I’ve ever come to a literary award.”

Lethem, on the other hand, has closets in Boerum Hill filled with statuettes. What’s the difference between rock ’n’ roll, where 35 is retirement age, and literature when you’re still a bright young thing?

He explained: “You have to get up every morning and pile up words.” Sounding a bit like a career counselor, Lethem added, “Better to be a poet or a rock star, if you want to burn the candle at both ends. As a novelist, you need to be tortoise, not the hare.”

And why do some writers succeed young, while others take a while? Lethem said that in his case he didn’t have that much to say and he “needed to read 500 books.” So 30 isn’t that young after all?

“I felt like an old man by then! I had written my first novel at 18.”