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"Writers know that they are writers even before they can hold a pencil."
- Sandra Cisneros

"If you want to be a great writer, you just have to write great."
- George Saunders

wheels

Durable wheelchairs available internationally:

www.whirlwindwheelchair.org

geniuses

The following 24 fellows each will receive $500,000 over the next five years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation:

_Lynsey Addario, 35, photojournalist, Istanbul, Turkey. Creating a visual record of major conflicts and humanitarian crisis of the 21st century.

_Maneesh Agrawala, 37, computer vision technologist, Berkeley, Calif. Designing visual interfaces that enhance ability to synthesize and comprehend complex, digital information.

_Timothy Barrett, 59, Iowa City, Iowa. A papermaker and paper historian preserving and enhancing the art of hand-papermaking.

_Mark Bradford, 47, Los Angeles. Mixed media artist who incorporates every day items from urban environments into abstract art.

_Edwidge Danticat, 40, Miami. Novelist whose depictions of lives of Haitian immigrants chronicle the power of human resistance and endurance.

_Rackstraw Downes, 69, New York. Painter whose minutely landscapes explore the intersection between the built and the natural world.

_Esther Duflo, 36, Cambridge, Mass. Economist who analyzes poverty in South Asia and Africa and improving policies aid efforts designed to improve lives.

_Deborah Eisenberg, 63, New York. Short story writer whose work depicts people coming to terms with personal relationships and struggling with the changing social context in which the relationships occur.

_Lin He, 35, Berkeley, Calif. Molecular biologist advancing understanding of the role of microRNAs in the development of cancer.

_Peter Huybers, 35, Cambridge, Mass. Climate scientist developing theories that explain climate change.

_James Longley, 37, Seattle. Filmmaker who explores the historical and cultural dimensions of conflicts in the Middle East through the stories of ordinary families.

_L. Mahadevan, 44, Cambridge, Mass. Applied mathematician investigating principles underlying the behavior of complex systems to address such questions as how flags flutter.

_Heather McHugh, 61, Seattle. Poet who uses such wordplay as puns and rhymes in intricately patterned compositions.

_Jerry Mitchell, 50, Jackson, Miss. Investigative newspaper reporter whose work has led to prosecutions in decades-old Civil Rights-era slayings.

_Rebecca Onie, 32, Boston. Health services innovator who helped build a program links college volunteers with medical professionals to improve health care for low-income patients.

_Richard Plum, 48, New Haven, Conn. Ornithologist who uses paleontology, developmental biology and optical physics to address questions about avian development, evolution and behavior.

_John A. Rogers, 42, Urbana, Ill. An applied physicist who is a leader in developing flexible electronic devices.

_Elyn Saks, 43, Los Angeles. A law school professor whose writings and her own struggles with schizophrenia challenges popular notions about severe mental illness.

_ Jill Seaman, 57, Old Fangak, Sudan. Physician devoted to delivering and improving treatment for infectious diseases in the remote, impoverished area of southern Sudan.

_ Beth Shapiro, 33, University Park, Pa. Evolutionary biologist whose research focuses on tracing the population history of recently extinct or threatened species.

_Daniel Sigman, 40, Princeton, N.J. Biogeochemist examining the forces that have shaped the ocean's fertility and earth's climate over the past 2 million years.

_ Mary Tinetti, 58, New Haven, Conn. Geriatric physician focusing on accidents involving the elderly and identifying risk factors that contribute to morbidity due to falls.

_Camille Utterback, 39, San Francisco. Artist who uses digital technologies to create works that redefine how viewers experience and interact with art.

_Theodore Zoli, 43, New York. Bridge engineer who has made major technological advances to protect transportation infrastructure when there is a disaster.

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Source: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Quorum Sensing: How Bacteria Communicate

Princeton's Bonnie Bassler discovered how bacteria "talk."
Bonnie had applied to about 50 jobs, but nobody was interested. Princeton gambled. In 2002 Bonnie was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship [the "genius grant"]. Dr. Bassler was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2006.