Visiting Purchase College poet awarded MacArthur 'genius' grant
NEW YORK - Claudia Rankine, one of poetry’s brightest and most innovative stars who is lending her talents this year to Purchase College, is among this year's 23 MacArthur fellows — recipients of the so-called “genius” grants.
The fellows were announced Thursday by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which gives each honoree $625,000 over five years to spend any way he or she pleases, with no strings attached.
Rankine is the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University. She is this year's Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature at Purchase, where she will present programs, readings and workshops throughout the year.
Today Rankine is launching Purchase's Durst Distinguished Lecture Series, which is free and open to the public. She will speak in the college's Humanities Theater from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
Rankine joins more than 900 people who have received a "genius" grant since 1981, with previous fellows including “Hamilton” playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, author-journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates and dancer-choreographer Merce Cunningham. Fellows, brought to the foundation’s attention by an anonymous pool of nominators, do not apply for the money and are not informed they’ve been chosen until shortly before the awards are announced.
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The idea behind the grants is to give people of “exceptional creativity” the “flexibility” to further pursue their ideas and projects.
“While our communities, our nation, and our world face both historic and emerging challenges, these 23 extraordinary individuals give us ample reason for hope,” MacArthur President Julia Stasch said in a statement. “They are breaking new ground in areas of public concern, in the arts, and in the sciences, often in unexpected ways. Their creativity, dedication, and impact inspire us all.”
Rankine is best known for her book-length tapestry of poems, prose and images about racism, “Citizen: An American Lyric,” a 2014 release which won the National Book Critics Circle prize and several other honors. More than 100,000 copies are in print, a remarkable total for poetry.
In a telephone interview, Rankine said she planned to use at least some of the MacArthur money to open a performing-creative-educational space in Manhattan that would challenge “the discourse that created this internalized hierarchy in white people.”
“We need a space where we can get together and put pressure on the language,” she said.
The foundation also selected author Gene Luen Yang, author Maggie Nelson, New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman, composer Julia Wolfe, theater artist and educator Anne Basting and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
Others chosen ranged from financial service innovator Jose A. Quinonez and human rights attorney Ahilan Arulanantham to linguist Daryl Baldwin and bioengineer Rebecca Richards-Kortum.
Also announced Thursday were computer scientists Subhash Khot and Bill Thies, synthetic chemist Jin-Quan Yu and biologist-inventor Manu Prakash, microbiologist Dianne Newman and geobiologist Victoria Orphan. Other fellows are sculptor Vincent Fecteau, art historian and curator Kellie Jones, cultural historian Josh Kun, author-writer Lauren Redniss, jewelry maker and sculptor Joyce J. Scott and video artist Mary Reid Kelley.
Staff writer Matt Spillane and AP Drama Writer Mark Kennedy contributed to this report.