Seattle filmmaker, poet win 'genius' grants

By Associated Press

Summary

A filmmaker and a poet from Seattle are among this year's winners of a $500,000 "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

Story Published: Sep 21, 2009 at 8:14 PM PST

Story Updated: Sep 21, 2009 at 8:21 PM PST

SEATTLE (AP) - A filmmaker and a poet from Seattle are among this year's winners of a $500,000 "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

Documentary filmmaker James Longley was nominated for an Oscar in 2007 for his film on Iran. While spending a year in that country, he also spent a short time in jail after being arrested while filming a protest.

Poet Heather McHugh is a writer-in-residence in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Washington. She joined the UW faculty in 1984. One of her books of poetry was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

McHugh is the fourth MacArthur fellow from the UW Creative Writing Program. Previous recipients of the five-year fellowship include Charles Johnson, Richard Kenney and Linda Bierds.