The MacArthur Foundation announced its new class of fellows, with Ling Ma and Jason Reynolds among the authors receiving the $800,000 grants given annually to people who “demonstrate the ability to impact society in significant and beneficial ways through their pioneering work or the rigor of their contributions.”
Ma, the author of the Kirkus Prize–winning novel Severance and the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning Bliss Montage, was named a fellow, with the foundation writing in a citation, “With her richly layered works of fiction, Ma provides readers with startling vantage points on the alienating aspects of contemporary life and the roles we play in perpetuating them.”
Reynolds was cited for “depicting the rich inner lives of kids of color and ensuring that they see themselves and their communities in literature.” The author is known for his middle grade and young adult novels including Long Way Down, Look Both Ways, and the Kirkus Prize–winning As Brave as You.
Poet Jericho Brown, whose collection The Tradition won the Pulitzer Prize, was given a grant for “reflecting on contemporary culture and identity in works that combine formal experimentation and intense self-examination.”
Juan Felipe Herrera, the former U.S. poet laureate and a past Kirkus Prize finalist, was named a fellow, along with writers Loka Ashwood, Ruha Benjamin, Jennifer L. Morgan, Shailaja Paik, Dorothy Roberts, and Alice Wong.
The full list of this year’s MacArthur Fellows is available at the foundation’s website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
