Category: people

Known colloquially as the “genius” grant (to the annoyance of the foundation, which sees “genius” as a much different concept than creativity), this year’s fellows include writers, performing artists, scientists and academics. There is a wide range of specialties encompassed in the list. – The New York Times

“News outlets have focused on every twist in a tale” — the apparent suicide of 34-year-old Sushant Singh Rajput, and the blame and abuse that have been hurled at his girlfriend — “that … has puzzled and infuriated social critics. With hard proof lacking, they say, the investigation and coverage appear to be fueled by institutional misogyny, a taboo against discussion of mental health issues and an increasingly partisan news media.” – The New York Times

Stoppard sails through customs: his charm – not the calculated sort – fuels his success. Friends and acquaintances are almost comically diverse: Harold Pinter, Mick Jagger, Samuel Beckett, Princess Margaret, Kenneth Tynan, Steven Spielberg … No one is charm-proof (including Lee), although the charm is impermeable, making her task harder. The great man continues not to see himself as one. He is happiest drifting into a writing day. And once a play goes into rehearsal, he is not stuck up about practical details. – The Guardian

Mr. Goodkind was a latecomer to writing: He spent years as a woodworker and wildlife artist before publishing his first novel, “Wizard’s First Rule,” when he was 45. But that book — the story of a heroic forest guide, Richard, who teams with a beautiful woman, Kahlan, to defeat an evil wizard, Darken Rahl — won legions of fans and earned positive reviews when it was published by Tor Books in 1994. – The New York Times

Stoppard can’t write women? He gives us Night and Day. Emotion? The Real Thing. Competitiveness is evidently one of the many sources of his creativity, albeit competitiveness of a patient, five-day-test-match kind. He worries quite a lot about the amount of time he spends writing and revising a play. ‘If the next gap is as long as the last one,’ he said in 2017, ‘I will be 103 and no doubt ready with blue pencil and blue-black ink as usual.’ – Literary Review

“She was a wise and idealistic young girl, a cartoon kid with a ball of black frizz for hair, a passionate hatred of soup and a name, Mafalda, inspired by a failed home appliance brand. Although her creator, a cartoonist [named Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón and] known as Quino, drew her regularly for just nine years, the Argentine comic strip Mafalda became a cultural touchstone across Latin America and Europe, examining issues such as nationalism, war and environmental destruction just as Argentina’s democracy was giving way to dictatorship.” – The Washington Post

“Davis became known as the songwriter behind the Elvis Presley hits ‘In the Ghetto,’ ‘A Little Less Conversation’ and ‘Memories’ before reaching No. 1 himself on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me’ in 1971. He soon parlayed his pop success into a [larger] career … with his own NBC variety series, The Mac Davis Show, from 1974-76, followed by … a brief span as a leading man in feature films, [starting with] the 1979 football drama North Dallas Forty.” – Variety

“The turmoil of Artemisia’s early life — and the remarkable evidence of it that survives — has inevitably overshadowed the less sensational, and less documented, narrative of what followed. Nevertheless, her later career was extraordinary, and it is reasonable to conclude that the fact of having been raped was less significant to Artemisia’s sense of self than some of her modern champions have suggested.” – The New Yorker

Many jazz critics avoid hanging out with musicians, usually because they’re afraid of jeopardizing their objectivity. Stanley was different. Not only did he think that spending time with musicians was crucial to understanding their work, he loved being around them. His appetite for the jazz life—for life, generally—seemed to know no limits. Some musicians thought he was full of shit, but even those who did mostly liked him. – New York Review of Books

Best known for his realistic oil paintings that captured snapshots of everyday life in the Bay Area, where he was a life-long resident, his work primarily featured automobile subjects, with occasional people. – ArtNet