In our Fellows in Conversation series, 2021 MacArthur Fellow Hanif Abdurraqib and 2020 MacArthur Fellow Jacqueline Woodson talk about the intersection of sound and language, exploring music, writing, music, and art.
Hanif Abdurraqib is a music critic, essayist, and poet using the lens of popular music to examine the broader culture that produces and consumes it.
Jacqueline Woodson is a writer redefining children’s and young adult literature in works that reflect the complexity and diversity of the world we live in while stretching young readers’ intellectual abilities and capacity for empathy.
Listen to music from the artists featured in this Conversation, including José Feliciano, Carlos Santana, Whitney Houston, Celia Cruz, Miriam Makeba, Kendrick Lamar, Young M.A., Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, Busta Rhymes, Tierra Whack, Vel Nine, AZ, Griselda, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Benny the Butcher, Kanye West, Alice Coltrane, and Prince.
The MacArthur Fellowship is a $800,000, no-strings-attached grant for individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work and the promise to do more.
