Douglas Kearney says winning a Whiting Writers' Award is a fresh start

Like everyone else at the Old Dominion Literary Festival, Southern California poet Douglas Kearney had turned his ringer off. So when a stranger called and left an undecipherable message, Kearney, preparing for his reading, didn't think much of it. As a result, he was late to learn he'd won a $50,000 Whiting Writers' Award.

By Carolyn Kellogg

November 12, 2008