21st Century Literature discussion

Each year the MacArthur Foundation gives out six-figure "genius" awards -- 6 of the 23 awards went to writers this year.
Meet the 6 Writers Who Just Won...

They include:
- Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
- Maggie Nelson
- Claudia Rankine
- Lauren Redniss
- Sarah Stillman
- Gene Luen Yang

Thank you for these, Marc!

Here is the Goodreads link for Sarah Stillman, to compliment the MacArthur link Marc gave us above. (I am glad for the differences -- I got to some interesting information about the various MacArthur awards that I would otherwise have missed.)

Thanks, Lily! The books under her name on GR threw me off track so I was erring on the side of caution. Looks like that's her now that I can see and read her bio.

Marc wrote: "Thanks, Lily! The books under her name on GR threw me off track so I was erring on the side of caution. Looks like that's her now that I can see and read her bio."

Quite a young woman! As are the other individuals being given a chance to reach deeper in the months ahead. I think there were only two, Claudia Rankine and Bill Thies, a computer scientist at Microsoft Research India, that I recognized, although some of the work sounds familiar for others. I believe Thies was in the news recently for some of his work with disease control, but I can't find the article, at least quickly, tonight. I haven't finished Rankine's Citizen. I find tough poetry requires especial concentration.

I had never heard of the foundation until I ended up working for one of its awardees (Heidi Hartmann) some 15 years ago for a brief stint. I came across Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric while grocery shopping back in March (cover caught my eye as I was completely unaware of Rankine). I was so floored by it, I read half the book before I even left the store (I just sat in the chairs by the pharmacy).

Marc wrote: "...I was so floored by it, I read half the book before I even left the store ..."

:-) Love your story! I do recall getting pulled into it, but then I put it down.... The NBA (National Book Award) had called my attention to it. As I recall, it was the first to receive an NBA award in two categories?

Heidi Hartmann? Oh, I just confused her with Arlie Hochschild, whose work came to my attention today. Was Hartmann in the same organization as Anne-Marie Slaughter? (No, you don't have to answer that. I heard AMS speak a few months ago and the name I remember sounded similar. If I ever really want/need to know, I can do the legwork.)

No crossover between Hartmann and Slaughter that I'm aware of, but wouldn't surprise me if their paths have crossed.

I paid very little attention to any of the book awards prior to joining this group as I seemed to be pretty fixated on mostly late 20th century books (with some 19th century thrown in for balance).

Lily wrote: "....The NBA (National Book Award) had called my attention to it. As I recall, it was the first to receive an NBA award in two categories?..."

No, I'm wrong. It was the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Awards, in poetry and in criticism.

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketco...