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嘿嘿视频 English professor Yiyun Li named MacArthur Foundation fellow

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Photo: Yiyun Li
嘿嘿视频 English professor Yiyun Li

Editor's note: Watch a about Professor Yiyun Li.

嘿嘿视频 English professor Yiyun Li, an emerging fiction writer already drawing rave reviews from national critics, has been awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship.

Li becomes only the third 嘿嘿视频 professor to receive the honor, which includes $500,000 paid over five years. She was among just 23 new fellows announced Monday by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an incredible honor, and it is a hugely generous gift from the MacArthur Foundation,鈥 Li said. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 thought about the details, but their support will mean I have more time to write in the next five years.鈥

Widely known as the 鈥済enius鈥 awards, the MacArthur fellowships are bestowed upon individuals in a variety of fields 鈥渨ho have shown exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.鈥 The grants are awarded without restrictions and may be used as the recipients choose.

Li, 37, has been a 嘿嘿视频 professor since 2008. She was recognized for dramatizing the myriad effects of China鈥檚 sweeping social changes in a moving, yet understated, style of storytelling.

嘿嘿视频 Chancellor Linda Katehi, who singled out Li during a recent campus speech, said the young English professor 鈥渉as been widely acknowledged as one of the very best writers of her generation.

鈥淪he richly deserves this latest honor,鈥 Katehi said. 鈥淲e are tremendously proud to have her on our faculty, where she has shown her talents as a teacher and mentor to be as stellar as her talents as a storyteller and writer.鈥

Li grew up in Beijing and came to the United States in 1996 to pursue a doctoral degree in immunology. Instead, she earned a graduate degree from the Iowa Writers鈥 Workshop and another in creative non-fiction writing from the University of Iowa. She returned to campus this month to teach an undergraduate and graduate fiction workshop.

Her first novel, 鈥淭he Vagrants,鈥 was published in February 2009 and positioned Li to be selected recently as one of the nation鈥檚 top 20 writers under age 40 by editors of The New Yorker magazine.

鈥淵iyun Li was singled out both for her remarkable accomplishments and for her exceptional promise,鈥 said Jessie Ann Owens, dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies. 鈥淗er stories help us experience universal truths about human existence."

Professor Scott Simmon, chair of the 嘿嘿视频 English department, said Li has become a great teacher of both writing and literature.

鈥淪tudents admire her way, not just of leading them through meanings in fiction, but of revealing to them the ways authors pull off their tricks,鈥 Simmon said. 鈥淚n her masterly novel 鈥楾he Vagrants,鈥 her own writing is quite harsh and yet heartfelt, political and yet personal. She treats her characters with great compassion and yet never lets us lose sight of the comedy in their plights. That Yiyun does this in her second language is all the more remarkable.鈥

Li said she is working on her fourth book, and second novel, which is set in both China and the U.S.

鈥淯nlike my previous novel, 鈥楾he Vagrants,鈥 where characters were confined by history and politics and could not leave China, this is a novel looking at the last 20 years, when people from China have gained some mobility, when it is possible for them to leave China and return,鈥 she said.

Her other two books are 鈥淕old Boy, Emerald Girl,鈥 published this month, and a debut collection of short stories, 鈥淎 Thousand Years of Good Prayers,鈥 published in 2005.

Li is the first 嘿嘿视频 faculty member to win a MacArthur fellowship since 1998, when psychology professor Leah Krubitzer, a neuroscientist, was honored. In 1992, geology professor Geerat Vermeij became the first 嘿嘿视频 faculty member to receive a MacArthur.

In addition to its support of creative people and effective institutions, the MacArthur Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places and understand how technology is affecting children and society.

 

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