Nonfiction writer and Columbia University School of the Arts alumna Kim Tingley ('09 SOA) will receive a 2012 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award, given annually to six women writers who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their careers. Celebrating its 18th year, the Rona Jaffe Awards have helped many women build successful writing careers by offering encouragement and financial support at a critical time. The Awards have been increased this year to $30,000 each and will be presented to the six recipients on September 20th in New York City.
Kim Tingley is a freelance writer who is interested in science and the environment. Her work has appeared in OnEarth magazine and, most recently, The New York Times Magazine, where she has published pieces about the construction and history of the Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan and the science of soundscape ecology, including one researcher’s quest to record natural sound in the wilderness of Denali National Park. She received her BA from James Madison University and her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her nominator writes, “Kim’s writing combines the best of personal essay, naturalism, and science writing. Her careful observation and crackling renderings work to both follow the deep tradition of first person nature writing while pushing the boundaries by wielding the slants and truths of creative nonfiction.” Ms. Tingley is working on a creative nonfiction book about the early history of Florida and the work of a young 19th century archaeologist. She plans to use her Writer’s Award to take time off to focus on this book, which she imagines as “part biography, part wilderness adventure, part meditation on place.” She will take several research trips to Florida and retrace the archaeologist’s coastal routes by kayak. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Celebrated novelist Rona Jaffe (1931-2005) established The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards program in 1995. It is the only national literary awards program of its kind dedicated to supporting women writers exclusively. Since the program began, the Foundation has awarded more than $1 million to emergent women writers, including several who have gone on to critical acclaim, such as Elif Batuman, Eula Biss, Judy Budnitz, Lan Samantha Chang, Rebecca Curtis, Rivka Galchen ('06 SOA), Kathleen Graber, Frances Hwang, Aryn Kyle, ZZ Packer, Tracy K. Smith ('97 SOA), Mary Szybist and Julia Whitty.
Kim Tingley is a freelance writer who is interested in science and the environment. Her work has appeared in OnEarth magazine and, most recently, The New York Times Magazine, where she has published pieces about the construction and history of the Second Avenue Subway in Manhattan and the science of soundscape ecology, including one researcher’s quest to record natural sound in the wilderness of Denali National Park. She received her BA from James Madison University and her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts. Her nominator writes, “Kim’s writing combines the best of personal essay, naturalism, and science writing. Her careful observation and crackling renderings work to both follow the deep tradition of first person nature writing while pushing the boundaries by wielding the slants and truths of creative nonfiction.” Ms. Tingley is working on a creative nonfiction book about the early history of Florida and the work of a young 19th century archaeologist. She plans to use her Writer’s Award to take time off to focus on this book, which she imagines as “part biography, part wilderness adventure, part meditation on place.” She will take several research trips to Florida and retrace the archaeologist’s coastal routes by kayak. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Celebrated novelist Rona Jaffe (1931-2005) established The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Awards program in 1995. It is the only national literary awards program of its kind dedicated to supporting women writers exclusively. Since the program began, the Foundation has awarded more than $1 million to emergent women writers, including several who have gone on to critical acclaim, such as Elif Batuman, Eula Biss, Judy Budnitz, Lan Samantha Chang, Rebecca Curtis, Rivka Galchen ('06 SOA), Kathleen Graber, Frances Hwang, Aryn Kyle, ZZ Packer, Tracy K. Smith ('97 SOA), Mary Szybist and Julia Whitty.
