The Whiting Foundation observed a literary tradition earlier this month in New York City when it presented its 2017 Whiting Awards to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. As their predecessors did in previous years, all ten received a new Library of America volume in addition to their $50,000 prize.
The Whiting Foundation’s selection committee is responsible for matching each winner with a title in the Library of America series. As Whiting Foundation Executive Director Daniel Reid told us in 2016, the judges “may sense an affinity, or think there is something wonderful for the winner to discover in the LOA book.”
Below is a list of this year’s Whiting Award winners and their categories, followed by the titles of the LOA volumes they were awarded.
Clare Barron (Drama)
Katherine Anne Porter: Collected Stories and Other WritingsJen Beagin (Fiction)
Carson McCullers: Complete NovelsFrancisco Cantú (Nonfiction)
James Agee: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, A Death in the Family, and Shorter FictionClarence Coo (Drama)
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Collected NovelsKaitlyn Greenidge (Fiction)
Shirley Jackson: Novels and StoriesLisa Halliday (Fiction)
Frederick Douglass: AutobiographiesJames Ijames (Drama)
Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in AmericaTony Tulathimutte (Fiction)
Edith Wharton: NovelsSimone White (Poetry)
Ezra Pound: Poems and TranslationsPhillip B. Williams (Poetry)
Edgar Allan Poe: Poetry and Tales
The Paris Review’s coverage of this year’s winners is available here, and the 2017 Awards page on the Whiting Foundation’s website is here. We at Library of America congratulate all ten recipients on their honor—and hope that they enjoy their books!
