These Authors are Geniuses: Meet the 2024 MacArthur Fellows

The recipients of the 2024 MacArthur Foundation Fellowships have been announced. Commonly known as the Genius Grant, it provides a $800,000 stipend to each Fellow, disbursed over five years. Marlies A. Carruth, Director of the MacArthur Fellows says, “The 2024 MacArthur Fellows pursue rigorous inquiry with aspiration and purpose. They expose biases built into emerging technologies and social systems and fill critical gaps in the knowledge of cycles that sustain life on Earth. Their work highlights our shared humanity, centering the agency of disabled people, the humor and histories of Indigenous communities, the emotional lives of adolescents, and perspectives of rural Americans.”

Many of the 22 MacArthur Fellows this year have published books, whether as their profession, like young adult and middle grade author Jason Reynolds, or as a result of their work, like disability justice activist Alice Wong. Here are ten of this year’s MacArthur Fellows who are authors, starting with those who received the fellowship for their writing.