Asian American author, historian named 2017 MacArthur 'genius' Fellows

Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of 'The Sympathizer' was named a MacArthur 'genius'

WHAT DOES it take to be a genius?

Two Asian/Americans were among the 24 individuals named as recipients of 2017 MacArthur Fellows awards, sometimes referred to as the MacArthur "Genius" awards.
Of the 24, 11 were people of color

This year's award winners officially announced today (Oct. 11) represent a wide array of fields, from social activists and scholars to artists, writers and community organizers.

Included in this year's class of geniuses are:

Sunil Amrith, 38, historian living in Cambridge, Mass.:
Illustrating the role of centuries of transnational migration in the present-day social and cultural dynamics of South and Southeast Asia.

Viet Thanh Nguyen, 46, fiction writer and cultural critic living in Los Angeles:
Challenging popular depictions of the Vietnam War and exploring the myriad ways that war lives on for those it has displaced.

The awardees are given a stipend of $625,000 over five years — no strings attached.
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