Last night the The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation gave $50,000 to ten promising writers for the 2011 Whiting Writers’ Awards. Since the awards began in 1985, the foundation has given over $6 million to 270 poets, fiction and nonfiction writers, and playwrights.
We’ve included the complete list of recipients below, along with the foundation’s short biography for each winner. Poet and past Whiting recipient Mark Doty delivered the keynote address.
Writers’ Program director Barbara Bristol had this comment in the release: “It is wonderful to see from the books these writers have published that the small, independent presses and university presses continue to be a strong, vital presence in the literary world, and it is also heartening that the larger presses are still investing in emerging literary talent.”
Ryan Call, fiction. His first collection of stories, The Weather Stations, was published this year by Caketrain. He lives in Houston.
Don Mee Choi, poetry. Her first collection, The Morning News is Exciting, was published by Action Books in 2010. She lives in Seattle.
Paul Clemens, nonfiction. He is the author of Made In Detroit (Doubleday, 2005) and Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant (Doubleday, 2011). He lives in Detroit.
Eduardo C. Corral, poetry. His book, Slow Lightning, will be published next year by Yale University Press. He lives in Casa Grande, Arizona.
Amy Herzog, plays. Her productions include After the Revolution and 4,000 Miles. Her new play, Belleville, opens this month at the Yale Repertory Theater. She lives in Brooklyn.
Daniel Orozco, fiction. His collection of stories, Orientation, was published this year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He is currently living in Moscow, Idaho.
Shane McCrae, poetry. His debut collection of poetry, Mule, was published this year by Cleveland State University Press. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa.
Teddy Wayne, fiction. His first novel, Kapitoil, was published in 2010 by Harper Perennial. He lives in Manhattan.
Kerri Webster, poetry. Her first book, We Do Not Eat Our Hearts Alone, was published by the University of Georgia Press in 2005. She lives in Boise, Idaho.