This year’s MacArthur fellows include artists, writers, scientists, urban designers, community activists and others who have demonstrated “extraordinary originality.”
The poet and fiction writer Ocean Vuong (CRF 2016), 30, is one of 26 people chosen as 2019 fellows of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Known colloquially as the “genius” grant, the fellowship honors “extraordinary originality” and comes with a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000, to be distributed over five years.
“We are looking for people who have demonstrated what I would call big-C creativity,” Cecilia Conrad, a managing director of the foundation and the head of the fellows program, said.