Leading Lights of Lit

For an evening of young literary luminaries off the usual post modern track, 92nd Street Y has an all-star lineup. Nigerian-American author Uzodinma Iweala wrote the Beasts of No Nation, a brutal and intense story about a West African boy, which has been called “startling” and “stunning” and praised by just about everyone for its “original voice.” For this reading, Jamaica Kincaid, another worldly writer with serious street cred (and Iweala’s mentor), gives him the intro treatment. But that doesn’t compare with Heidi Julavits’ (founding editor of The Believer) introduction to Zadie Smith who’ll read from On Beauty. Sometimes all the hype’s worth it.

September 18. 92nd St. Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. (at 92nd St.), 212-415-5500; 8, $18.