David Simon has been awarded one of the MacArthur Foundation’s $500,000 “genius grants,” along with 22 others, including an astrophysicist, a stone carver, jellyfish and bee experts, and the fiction writer Yiyun Li, one of The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40.” The Wire creator received the award in his typical fashion, which is to say with some self-deprecation, appreciation, and a hint of curmudgeonliness: ”Obviously, I’m very grateful but I have a vague sense of not belonging,” he told the Times. He elaborated to The Wall Street Journal: “To be blunt, I’m in the entertainment industry
and my contracts are well-funded right now.” [WSJ]
