University of New Orleans alumnus Jericho Brown has been named a 2024 MacArthur Fellow and will receive one of the so-called “genius grants” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Brown is one of 22 fellows in this year’s class. Fellows receive $800,000 stipends that are bestowed with no conditions; recipients may use the money as they see fit.

Brown is a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, professor and director of creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. He earned an MFA in creative writing from UNO. Brown won a 2020 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his poetry collection “The Tradition,” published by Copper Canyon Press. The Pulitzer Prize Board described Brown’s work as a “collection of masterful lyrics that combine delicacy with historical urgency in their loving evocation of bodies vulnerable to hostility and violence.”

In addition to “The Tradition,” Brown is the author of two other collections of poetry: “The New Testament,” which won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was named one of the best of the year by Library Journal, Coldfront and the Academy of American Poets; and “Please,” which won the 2009 American Book Award.

The MacArthur Fellowship is awarded to talented individuals in a variety of fields who have shown exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits. Nominated anonymously by leaders in their respective fields and considered by an anonymous selection committee, recipients learn of their selection only when they receive a call from the MacArthur Foundation just before the public announcement.