Here are the winners of this year’s $40k Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grants.
Today, the Whiting Foundation announced its 2019 grantees of the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grants, which aims to “foster original, ambitious projects that bring writing to the highest possible standard.” Each of the eight winners will be awarded $40,000 to support the completion of their books in progress. Below, you’ll find the 2019 winners, with additional information about their forthcoming books provided by the Whiting Foundation. Congratulations to all! We can’t wait to read your books.
Wil S. Hylton for The Call of Empire (History), forthcoming from Riverhead
The Call of Empire is about a conspiracy by the American government to help a young female leader of the Cuban independence movement escape from a Spanish prison in 1897; her dramatic arrival in New York galvanized support for the invasion of Cuba that elevated the United States to a world power.
The judges commented: “Rigorous and exciting: an engrossing project of biographical recovery. The stories of women as leaders are often left out of official accounts of history, and this is an important attempt to place Evangelina Cosío in a larger historical context at a turning point in American history when the country chose to assume a role as a superpower. The layers of inquiry—of Evangelina herself; Cuban history; press barons and crusading media; and the rise of interventionist foreign policy—complement each other, and build to a novel and groundbreaking project. The research is exhaustive: the author scoured flea markets obtaining various conflicting 19th century accounts of her jailbreak, made twelve trips to different archives, and tracked down her last remaining descendent in a building without power in rural Cuba. Truly impressive.”
Channing Gerard Joseph for House of Swann: Where Slaves Became Queens (Biography), forthcoming from Crown
Combining groundbreaking historical discoveries with the exhilaration of narrative storytelling, House of Swann is the story of William Dorsey Swann, an African-American man born into slavery who became the world’s first self-described “drag queen” and the leader of what can be considered the world’s earliest-known gay liberation organization.
The judges commented: “It is impossible not to be excited about Channing Gerard Joseph’s great feat of historical research: his discovery of William Dorsey Swann, a man born into slavery who went on establish a culture of drag balls in reconstructionist Washington not unlike those that would emerge nearly two hundred years later. This is crisp and evocative history that cuts across many different fields of inquiry in order to document a riveting story about the function and flourishing of beauty in marginalized communities. Joseph has a talent for accumulating witty, atmospheric details that together create an irresistibly immersive world. Through tireless archival work and in consultation with noted academics, Channing Gerard Joseph complicates and expands our understanding of the history of LGBQT activism and African American history.”
Jim Morris for The Cancer Factory (Investigative journalism/health), forthcoming from Beacon
The Cancer Factory examines the shamefully weak protections afforded workers exposed to toxic substances in America, a regulatory breach that contributes to an estimated 95,000 deaths from occupational illness each year.
The judges commented: “An investigative tour de force, The Cancer Factory accomplishes an incredibly difficult feat: it shows how a major corporation has ignored and continues to ignore research by industry scientists about the dangers of chemical exposures, and draws connections between those exposures and their impact on particular workers’ health. This riveting, powerful project illuminates a much larger pattern in the American blue-collar workforce, and the argument at the core of this book—that factories have not adequately protected their workers—is a vital one, made with force. The book is based on four decades of reporting, the author’s archival knowledge of worker health regulations, and a comprehensive review of the scientific literature. His rigorous reporting and longstanding relationships with his subjects and their families will result in a definitive account of one of the worst outbreaks of workplace cancer since World War II.”
Kristen Radtke for Seek You: Essays on American Loneliness (Graphic nonfiction), forthcoming from Pantheon
Seek You explores the crisis of loneliness through text and image, examining isolation through the lenses of gender, violence, media, technology, science, and art.
The judges commented: “An innovative, lyric exploration of loneliness, Seek You sets word and image in dialogue with each other in organic, unforced, often poignant ways. It is thrilling in its form, its inquiries, and its humanity. This is not a memoir, but a reported-out inquiry; the author is consulting the right body of emergent empirical research, as well as deftly relying on her superb personal judgment and interpretive power. We see the chorus of judgmental social media voices crowding the page; a dissection of the laugh track phenomenon; the opening image of a lonely body floating through space. It brings the graphic form into exciting new territory, and has the potential to spark a larger cultural conversation about modern isolation and its consequences.”
Albert Samaha for Concepción: A Family’s Journey on the Immigrant Wave That Changed the Face of America (Memoir), forthcoming from Riverhead
A riveting story about a family’s immigrant optimism crashing into reality, revealing the American mythologies that lured people from countries damaged by U.S. foreign policies and the nation’s ongoing internal fight between the principles of inclusion and white supremacy.
The judges commented: “The simple question about the immigrant experience at the heart of this project feels essential: Was it worth it to come here? Samaha approaches the subject as an investigator, deftly situating his riveting family history in the context of global currents of immigration over the past half-century, analyzing the lure of American culture and the reality of American life. His treatment is rigorous, and unsentimental, refusing easy answers; in a moment when immigration dominates the headlines, this is a refreshingly honest and apolitical take. With its clever back-and-forth structure, insightful analysis and superb character development, Concepción weaves history, statistics, and personal narrative in prose that is taut and witty and charged with life. It is a remarkable synthesis: a memoir that feels expansive and outward looking.”
Damon Tabor for The Mountain in the Burning Sky (History), forthcoming from Random House
The Mountain in the Burning Sky chronicles the early history of smokejumpers—elite aerial wilderness firefighters—and their later involvement in covert CIA missions around the world, including in China, Tibet, India, the Congo, Cuba, Vietnam, and Laos.
The judges commented: “This is the tale of the bizarre life and mysterious death of a smokejumper, chess champion, and bull rider turned CIA case officer who later stood against America’s abandonment of its local allies in Laos and Vietnam. Tabor has found a compelling and unusual American hero, rendering his swashbuckling arc with all the intensity of an epic cinematic yarn. He has performed dogged, difficult research, unearthing new information through human sourcing, archives, and government records. Alive to the grain and nuance of human experience, he brings a modern sensibility and measured critique to a chapter of U.S. history that raises genuine questions about the ruthless pragmatism that can drive American military efforts. This book is well-positioned to expand our understanding of the history of the CIA and the conduct of the Cold War.”
Walter Thompson-Hernández for The Compton Cowboys: A New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland (Cultural reportage), forthcoming from Harper Collins
A fascinating account of the lives of the last black urban cowboys in the city of Compton and their struggle to keep their horse ranch alive, reported through a year-long ethnographic immersion with a group of friends who chose horses over gangs and violence.
The judges commented: “A captivating, sustained examination of a charismatic group of underprivileged men and women who challenge the stereotypes of “gangsta” and cowboy. Everything about this set of interlocking stories of transformation and struggle is compelling: the camaraderie as an alternative to urban gang life (‘Streets raised us, horses saved us’); what the cowboy subculture suggests about the possibilities of intimacy and community in the face of violence; and the universal themes of redemption and finding a sense of self. The book has the potential to disrupt some of the prevalent toxic stereotypes about black urban experience. Thompson-Hernández writes with rigor, gusto, and compassion, allowing his protagonists—who have given him unparalleled access—to be more than victims or villains. There is a genuine hope in these pages that is neither blind nor cheap: it’s vexed and it’s real and it’s genuine, bringing a sense of possibility rather than despair to our conversations about inequality in American life.”
Ilyon Woo for Master Slave Husband Wife: An American Love Story (History), forthcoming from 37 Ink (Simon & Schuster)
The first full-length work of narrative nonfiction about Ellen and William Craft, an enslaved couple who fled bondage in inspired disguise, with Ellen passing as an invalid white master and William posing as “his” faithful slave.
The judges commented: “Master Slave Husband Wife draws on exhaustive research to tell the story of two fugitive slaves repurposing the toxic archetypes of their era to secure their freedom. Almost as soon as the Crafts escaped, they started turning themselves into a story—one that continued to place them in danger. As an action story, it is thrilling; but it is the aftermath of the couple’s escape, meticulously researched by Woo, that captures a particularly American combination of hope and tragedy. Their journey effectively exposes a cross-section of the country in their historical moment. Woo demonstrates a gripping mastery of story and takes dazzling risks. She conceives of the Crafts’ escape not only as an example of their love for each other but also as an attempt to reform the country—and their experience complicates our notions of a happy ending. This is a moment in which the public is more willing than ever to grapple with the dark complexity of slavery’s legacy, and Woo’s book will be a contribution to this expanding discussion.”
