AIW is proud to congratulate the recipients of the 2009 Whiting Writers’ Awards. An excerpt from their press release announcing the winners appears below. The Whiting Writers’ Awards were introduced in 1985 to recognize writers with exceptional talent and promise early in their careers. Each year there are 10 Awards of $50,000 apiece, totaling $500,000 annually.
Jericho Brown, poetry. Please is his first book, published by New Issues Poetry & Prose in 2008. He lives in San Diego.
Jay Hopler, poetry. His first collection, Green Squall, was published by Yale University Press in 2005. He lives in Tampa, Florida.
Adam Johnson, fiction. He is the author of Emporium (Viking 2002) and Parasites Like Us (Viking, 2003). He lives in San Francisco.
Rajiv Joseph, plays. His productions include Animals out of Paper, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo and the forthcoming Gruesome Playground Injuries. He lives in Brooklyn.
Joan Kane, poetry. The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife, her first collection, will be published by NorthShore Press this fall. She lives in Anchorage.
Michael Meyer, nonfiction. The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed, was published by Walker & Company in 2008. Soon to return to China, he lives in New York City.
Nami Mun, fiction. Miles from Nowhere, a novel, was published by Riverhead in 2009. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she lives in Chicago.
Hugh Raffles, nonfiction. He is the author of In Amazonia: A Natural History (Princeton University Press, 2002), and The Illustrated Insectopedia, which Pantheon will publish in the spring of 2010. A Professor of Anthropology at The New School, he lives in New York City.
Salvatore Scibona, fiction. The End, his first novel, was published by Graywolf Press in 2008 and shortlisted for the National Book Awards. He lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Vu Tran, fiction. This accomplished short story writer has an as-yet-untitled first novel forthcoming from W.W. Norton. Born in Viet Nam, he now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For additional information about the Awards and the winners, visit the Whiting Foundation website.
On behalf of AIW and our members, congratulations to the 2009 recipients!
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