The Post notes yesterday that native Washingtonian and author Edward Jones has been named a MacArthur Fellow. Jones, recipient of the National Book Critics Circle award and the Pulitzer Prize for his novel “The Known World”, will receive $500,000 from the MacArthur Foundation, spread out quarterly over five years.

Jones has lived in the D.C. area for most of his life. His first book, the short story collection “Lost in the City”“, tells fourteen stories of African Americans living in D.C. in the 60s and 70s. “The Known World,” Jones’ first novel, is a tale of slavery set in antebellum Virginia. Jonathan Yardley has called the book “the best new work of American fiction to cross my desk in years.” Despite all the accolades, Jones lives humbly. Laid off from his job at a tax firm two years ago, Jones currently lives in Tenleytown and, in a move close to DCist’s heart, refuses to own a car. Jones is free to use his MacArthur Grant as he wishes, but tells the Post that “life hasn’t changed.”

The MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as a “Genius Grant,” is awarded to 20-25 individuals each year. The award recognizes creativity in all fields, as well as potential for future contributions to society. Notable past winners include choreographer Twyla Tharp, writer Thomas Pynchon, philosopher Richard Rorty, computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, physicist Edward Witten, and musician Ornette Coleman.