CHICAGO (AP) — David Simon, creator of the HBO television series “The Wire,” is among 23 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Foundation “genius grants.”
The $500,000 grants were announced Tuesday by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The money is paid quarterly over five years. It comes with no strings, allowing winners unfettered freedom to pursue their creative projects.
Another winner is Shannon Lee Dawdy, an anthropologist from the University of Chicago. She says she may use the grant to further her work studying and protecting traditions of New Orleans as the city recovers from Hurricane Katrina.
Dawdy says getting word of the MacArthur grant is “like receiving a phone call from the Greek gods.” She says it’s like “someone you can’t see is pulling the strings of your fate.”
