This year’s “Genius grant” winners have been announced. The MacArthur grant awards $500,000, “no strings attached” to “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction.” Alongside, scientists, artists and scholars are some newly minted geniuses with a literary focus. This year’s literary geniuses are:
Junot Díaz is no stranger to readers of The Millions. His novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao was tops in our reader poll for the best books of the first decade of the millennium (and #11 among our panelists. Martha Southgate told us why.) It’s also a Millions Hall of Famer. Díaz first came to our attention with his incredible debut collection, Drown, and he recently returned with another hotly anticipated collection, This Is How You Lose Her, which was recently a jumping off point for an essay exploring Díaz’s “niftiest literary trick.” Finally, Díaz once graced these pages, sharing unique reading recommendations as a participant in our annual Year in Reading series.
Dinaw Mengestu has two books under his belt: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and How to Read the Air. Mengestu became known to a wider audience after being named to the New Yorker’s widely discussed “20 under 40” list in 2010. Mengestu, who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia but moved to the United States when he was two years old, was also one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” authors in 2007.
Journalist David Finkel is best known for his work as a staff writer at the Washington Post, where he won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006. He is also the author of the book The Good Soldiers, which is an account of his time embedded with a division of Army Rangers in 2007 as part of the “Surge” meant to turn the tide in the Iraq War. That book won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, which is given to a book that exemplifies, “literary grace, a commitment to serious research and social concern.”
We Need New Names was fantastic, best of the shortlist I’ve read so far. Of these six, only still haven’t read The Lowland and The Luminaries, but I’m really looking forward to them, The Luminaries especially.
Ah, unfortunately Aw’s “Five Star Billionaire” didn’t make it. Too bad. But “We Need New Names” is indeed great. I’ve got a couple more to read, but I really hope Bulawayo will win.
I realize Colm Toibin is a regular when it comes to (short/long)listing for the Booker but The Testament of Mary is very deserving. A beautiful and tragic story told with compassion and wonder.
A few days ago I finished reading the last of the six books in the short list. In my view the shortest book is out first as it has too many allusions and needs specialized knowledge of Christianity to understand. The longest is out next as it’s simply too long for a whodunit and doesn’t end with any kind of a surprise factor. Bulawayo’s book has far too many characters and all of them seem to be protagonists. Between the last two Lahiri’s is a strong contender but the two halves of the novel do not jell – though I admit that might be the express intent of the author. The winner is Ruth Ozeki’s book with its stark juxtaposition of contrasting characters and time frames.