MacArthur "Genius" Grants 2008

were announced yesterday.

And they include - oh fabulous day! - the brilliant Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie.

Read what I said about her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, in 2006.

And about anticipating her second, Half Of A Yellow Sun. Which I devoured in two days, totally gripped by its scale of vision, skill of execution, breadth of imagination. The final page made me cry.

Another thing to smile about: of the twenty-five MacArthur fellows named, fifteen are women. It's exciting just to read about their phenomenal work. Even though it makes me feel like a total underachiever :-).