The MacArthur geniuses have been announced. Here’s how we read the list: scientist, scientist, scientist, long-form journalist and New Yorker contributor Peter Hessler! Scientist, scientist, that Radiolab guy! Economist, scientist, architect, jazz percussionist, poet Kay Ryan! It’s a good year for poetry, in fact. In addition to Kay Ryan, there’s A.E. Stallings, poet and translator. Commence lamentations about the state of fiction writing: there is no fiction on the list.
