MacArthur Genius Grants

The annual MacArthur fellows have been announced, and as usual, reading about the winners is inspiring and even intimidating (statistical analyses? cryptography? nanomaterials?). Also, as usual, several of the winners have written books and several have ties to Chicago.

Congratulations to University of Chicago historian Tara Zahra, author of The Lost Children, whose work (as described by the Tribune) "illuminates life and social currents in 20th-century Europe."

We're also thrilled to see that the brilliant graphic novelist Alison Bechdel was also named. Bechdel (also known for her elegantly simple test of gender bias in works of fiction) has previously won a great deal of acclaim for her memoirs: Fun Home (about her father) and Are You My Mother? (about her mother). Fun Home has since been adapted into an off-Broadway musical.

Another standout is an award for Joshua Oppenheimer, documentary filmmaker who directed the brilliant, troubling, unique, Academy Award-nominated film The act of killing, which examined the atrocities of Indonesian death squads by asking the still-living leaders to reenact their violence for the camera. It's an unforgettable film.

Other winners who've published work that can be found at the library include: Pamela O. Long, poet Terrance Hayes, poet/translator Khaled Mattawa, and jazz musician Steve Coleman. Congratulations to all the winners.