Genius grants: Who got this year’s $800,000 MacArthur awards?

When Maaza Mengiste first got the call saying she won a MacArthur 'Genius Grant', she thought it was a joke. Or maybe an AI scam.

But it wasn't. The Ethiopian American author was awarded an $800,000 grant to be distributed over five years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She was one of 20 this year who were given the prestigious award for "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits."

"My voice was shaking and it was just a complete shock," Mengiste told USA TODAY. "I'm still completely overcome and overwhelmed by it. It really means a lot to be able to have this gift."

Mengiste never planned on becoming a writer. She took English classes in secret after dropping her pre-med track and wrote her first short story when she was 33 and applying to graduate school.

Since graduating from NYU with a Master of Fine Arts, Mengiste has honed in on Ethiopian history: she learned Italian on a Fulbright scholarship to research the Italo-Ethiopian War and has authored two award-winning books about conflicts in twentieth-century Ethiopia.

The MacArthur Fellowship is one of few grants that is unrestricted, meaning recipients are not required to report…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/