Bennington College Alumnus Jonathan Lethem Wins Prestigious MacArthur "Genius Award"

September 20, 2005

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named best-selling author and Bennington College alumnus, Jonathan Lethem '86 as one of 25 new MacArthur Fellows for 2005. Lethem, who was the College's commencement speaker last June, was notified earlier this week that he is receiving $500,000 in "no strings attached" support from the Foundation over the next five years.

MacArthur fellows are selected for their creativity, originality, and potential. By providing resources without stipulations or reporting requirements, the Foundation offers its Fellows the opportunity to accelerate their current activities or take their work in new directions. The unusual level of independence afforded to the recipients underscores the spirit of freedom intrinsic to creative endeavors.

"It comes as no surprise to the Bennington community that Jonathan Lethem would be selected to be a recipient of the MacArthur 'genius award', having experienced his very special eloquence and distinctive vitality," says Elizabeth Coleman, president of Bennington College. "By continually bursting the seams of the genres in which he writes, Jonathan's work has an explosive originality. We are thrilled that a person of his accomplishments has been so honored and in a way that is likely to assure the fullest possible realization of his vast potential."

He is the author of six novels, a novella, two short story collections, and a volume of essays that explore the relationship between so-called high-art and popular culture. Motherless Brooklyn, Lethem's story of a young detective with Tourette's syndrome working on a mobster's murder case in Brooklyn, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was named novel of the year by Esquire, and received the British Gold Dagger Award in 1999.

His first novel, Gun, with Occasional Music, splices noir detective and cyber science fiction; Girl in Landscape is a western set on Mars; and in Fortress of Solitude, comic book superheroes fly through the lives of two boys, one black and one white, who begin a complicated friendship in Brooklyn in the 1970s. Lethem's newest book, published this spring, is The Disappointment Artist, a collection of autobiographical essays.

Lethem is the fourth Bennington College alumnus to be recognized by the MacArthur Foundation. He follows Faye D. Ginsburg '75, Gay Johnson McDougall '69, and Liz Lerman '69 who received MacArthur "genius awards" in 1994, 1999, and 2002, respectively.

As one of the nation's largest private philanthropic foundations, the MacArthur Foundation has awarded more than $3 billion in grants since it began operations in 1978. Today it has assets of approximately $5 billion. The inaugural class of MacArthur Fellows was named in 1981. Including this year's Fellows, 707 people, ranging in age from 18 to 82, have been named MacArthur Fellows since the inception of the program.