New York Public Library names new Cullman Center Fellows

Fourteen "exceptional creative writers, independent scholars and academics" have been named as the New York Public Library's 2010 Cullman Center Fellows. The group will get to spend a year in residence in September at the library's famous building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, where they will work on a variety of projects.

"I'm hugely looking forward to introducing this extraordinary group of writers and scholars to the center and the lbrary -- and to each other -- next fall," said Jean Strouse, the Cullman Center's director. "It's thrilling to see what personal and intellectual magic sets in here each year."

The 2010 class includes some very well known names and less heralded writers. They include:

  • Fiction writers David Bezmozgis, Maile Chapman, Mary Gaitskill and Wells Tower.
  • Poet Geoffrey Brock
  • New Yorker staff writer Larissa MacFarquhar
  • 2009 National Humanities Medal recipient Annette Gordon-Reed, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.
"This exceptional class of Fellows will serve as a wonderful tribute to the great generosity and wisdom of Dorothy and Lewis Cullman," said the library's president, Paul LeClerc. "Once they arrive, the Fellows are sure to take full advantage of the library's unparalleled holdings in this, the building's centennial year."