Stuart Dybek

Chicago writer and Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Stuart Dybek has been awarded one of this year's coveted John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship "genius grants." The fellowships, announced on Monday, are given to individuals selected for "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits". The fellowships include a half-million dollars in "no strings attached" support over five years.

"With three distinguished collections of short stories, Stuart Dybek has created his own country," said a statement from Rea judges on Tuesday. "The coast of Chicago is his landscape, one he has inhabited, pondered, remembered and made hauntingly real."

Dybek, the celebrated author of I Sailed With Magellan and The Coast of Chicago, taught for many years at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop, and is presently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Northwestern University. He has been applauded as a "genius...A modern master...Dybek is incapable of writing a dull page."

Chicago Tribune >>
Stuart Dybek: We knew he was a genius all along

New York Times >>
Stuart Dybek Wins Short Story Prize

MacArthur Foundation >>
Meet the Fellows: Stuart Dybek