10 Writers Honored With Whiting Awards

Five fiction authors, three poets and two playwrights are winners of the 18th annual Whiting Writers’ Awards, given to “emerging writers of exceptional talent and promise.”

Honorees receive $35,000 each.

“We expect that they will continue to produce strong work in the future and we hope this award will help make that possible,” said Barbara K. Bristol, director of the Whiting writers’ program.

Previous winners include Tony Kushner, Jonathan Franzen and Katha Pollitt.

Among those cited this year were Justin Cronin, a Philadelphia-based novelist whose debut work, “Mary and O’Neil,” won a PEN Hemingway Award; New York-based playwright Melissa James Gibson, winner of an Obie award for “(sic)”; and poet Elizabeth Arnold, the Washington-based author of “The Reef.”

Other fiction writers honored were Michelle Huneven of Altadena, Calif.; Kim Edwards of Lexington, Ky.; and Danzy Senna and Jeffrey Renard Allen of New York. Poets David Gewanter and Joshua Weiner of Washington and playwright Evan Smith of Savannah, Ga., were also cited.