Junot Díaz wins MacArthur ‘genius grant'
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and MIT Professor of Writing
receives unrestricted 500K prize
October 1, 2012
MIT News Story
Junot Díaz, the MIT writing professor widely acclaimed for his vivid, inventive works of fiction, has won a 2012 MacArthur Fellowship, sometimes referred to as a “genius grant.”
The MacArthur Foundation cited Díaz, 43, for his stories that use “raw, vernacular dialogue and spare, unsentimental prose to draw readers into the various and distinct worlds that immigrants must straddle.”
The fellowships, awarded annually, carry a $500,000 prize, which recipients are allowed to use as they see fit. Díaz found out about his award in person last month while on a book tour in Chicago, where the MacArthur Foundation is located.
“I think I was speechless for two days,” Díaz told MIT News on Monday, calling the award “stupendous” and a “mind-blowing honor.”
Full story at MIT News
Suggested Links
MIT SHASS | Comparative Media Studies | Writing
MacArthur Fellowships | Class of 2012
http://www.macfound.org/fellows/class/2012/
Interview in The New York Times
http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2012-new-york-times-interviews-junot-diaz
Junot Diaz on his new book, This Is How You Lose Her
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/q-and-a-with-junot-diaz-0911.html
Junot Diaz wins Pulitzer Prize | 2008
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/diaz-pulitzer-0407.html