“I am actually in community with others on this vast shore of poetry. A place that is not landlocked inside the logic of language, but in continual movement along the rivers of feeling.”
—Layli Long Soldier, 2026 MacArthur Fellow
“Fiction tells a truth that history cannot. I lean into fictive truths.”
—Maaza Mengiste, 2026 MacArthur Fellow
“Having the chance to try and build another world and to occupy it, even if only for a little while, that’s a gift.”
—Bryan Washington, 2026 MacArthur Fellow