The Whiting Awards Choose 10 Up-and-Coming Writers Who Don’t Shy Away From the Current Moment

When the Whiting Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the arts, hands out their annual awards of $50,000 each to 10 up-and-coming writers, they like to operate with an air of mystery, using a secret judging panel and notifying the winners of the life-changing prize through a surprise phone call. Like most pieces of everyday magic, it has been complicated by the inconveniences of modern life. Winners increasingly balk at calls from an unknown number, leading to a drawn-out notification process sometimes involving cryptic emails. But for poet Claire Schwartz, one of this year’s awardees, her proclivity for answering spam calls… Read Full Article