The MacArthur Fellows program earlier this week named University Creative Writing Prof. Deborah Eisenberg as one of its 24 recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship grant. The honor, also known as a "genius grant," awards $500,000 during a five-year period to creative individuals in a variety of fields.
The purpose of the program is "to find enormously creative people in our midst and hand off a no-strings attached award to give them the space and time they need to take the next step," MacArthur Fellows program director Daniel Socolow said.
Intended primarily as an investment rather than an award, the "genius grant" corresponds with the MacArthur Foundation's larger philanthropic efforts by aiding individual development. Eisinberg is a great fit for the program, Socolow said.
"You only have to look at her work to know how spectacular she is, to see clearly that she still has a great trajectory, and what we're doing is investing in that creativity," Socolow said, noting that MacArthur fellows come from many different academic backgrounds.
"Every year they're different, we're not filling slots, we're not filling quotas," Socolow said. "We look at thousands of people every year ... what comes out at the end of the day is a grouping that is different each year, but alike in their extraordinary creativity."
Past University honorees include University professor emeritus Terry Belanger, former director of the Rare Book School, in 2005; Research Neurosurgery Prof. Janine Jagger in 2002; and Chemistry Prof. Brooks Pate in 2001.
Eisenberg received notification of her award through a phone call.
"I was so shocked that it took me some minutes to understand that they were calling me because I had won," she said.
Eisenberg's career had an unconventional start when she started writing as a waitress at the age of 30.
"I got to a very desperate point in my life where I had nothing to lose by trying," Eisenburg said. "I suppose I had always been inhibited by fear and shame."
Since then, she has received much acclaim for her short fiction and has received dozens of writing awards. Her collections include "Twilight of the Superheroes," "All Around Atlantis," "Under the 82nd Airborne" and "Transactions in a Foreign Currency."
Eisenberg said she gravitates specifically to the form of short fiction because of an intrinsic affinity.
"It just seems to be the way I was born," she said. "I think sometimes people are born with an appropriate length."
Eisenberg declined to comment, though, about what she plans to do with her MacArthur Fellowship.
"I actually don't speak about my writing until I've finished it because usually I don't know what I'm writing until I've finished," she said.
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