We’re absolutely over the friggin moon to announce that Steven Dunn, author of Potted Meat and Water & Power, both from Tarpaulin Sky Press, has won a Whiting Award.
The Whiting Awards are given annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. The awards, of $50,000 each, are based on early accomplishment and the promise of great work to come.
From the Selection Committee:
Steven Dunn’s fiction has no varnish, only the reporting of life in its dizzying plenitude. His narratives about life in the military draw on his experience as a veteran to explore powerlessness, the discomforts of the body, the need to hide one’s sexuality, the desire to assert control – but it finds its strength in softness. Formally inventive, his work is a finely judged orchestration of different perspectives, mixing fiction with journalism, poetry, visual art; on every page you feel the inquisitive and exuberant persona of the author. This intimacy makes possible a piercing investigation of the concepts of service and country.
Tarpaulin Sky Press congratulates all of this year’s winners.