DC Author Gets $800,000 MacArthur Fellow ‘Genius Grant’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A 40-year-old fiction and nonfiction author is among 22 new recipients of prestigious fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation known as “genius grants.”

Each of the fellows will receive a grant of $800,000 over five years to spend however they want. The fellows do not apply, and are not interviewed for or made aware of the award until it is announced. Instead, fellows are nominated and endorsed by their peers and communities through an open, years-long process overseen by the foundation.

Jason Reynolds, of Washington D.C., works in Lesley University’s Writing for Young People MFA Program and has previously served as the Library of Congress’s National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

The University of Maryland graduate wrote and co-wrote at least 20 books, including "When I Was the Greatest (2014)," "The Boy in the Black Suit (2015)," "All American Boys (2015, with Brendan Kiely)" and "Patina (2017)."

"Jason Reynolds is a writer of children’s and young adult literature whose books reflect the rich inner lives of kids of color and offer profound moments of human connection. He writes to fill a void he experienced as a young Black boy from Oxon Hill, Maryland, who seldom saw communities like his depicted in the books he was encouraged to read at school. With a poet’s ear for rhythm and a storyteller’s sense of narrative pacing and structure, Reynolds weaves humor, joy, and playfulness into his works. At the same time, he does not shy away from depicting the challenging realities of racism, economic inequity, police brutality, and grief for his young readers. The characters featured in his fiction forge friendships, discover talents, act out, seek forgiveness, face fears, and care for parents with cancer," the MacArthur Foundation wrote.

While each class is never an immediate response to any particular moment, sometimes themes do emerge, Marlies Carruth, director of the MacArthur Fellows Program, told The Associated Press.

“We have to see at least the variety and the strength and the number of nominations in the literary arts space as a response to the zeitgeist, the desire to tell stories and resurrect certain stories that have not been told,” said Carruth.

The foundation looks for people who will be “enabled” by the award, meaning they have both a track record of work but also the potential to produce additional extraordinary work, Carruth said

The foundation also strives to support people who collaborate and invest outside of their specific discipline.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.