Bill Text: TX HR682 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Congratulating Kiese Laymon of Rice University on receiving a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-29 - Referred to Resolutions Calendars [HR682 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HR682-Introduced.html
| 88R12963 BPG-D | ||
| By: A. Johnson of Harris | H.R. No. 682 | |
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| WHEREAS, Rice University professor Kiese Laymon has been | ||
| named the recipient of a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Widely known as "genius grants," the MacArthur | ||
| Fellowships acknowledge exceptional originality in creative | ||
| endeavors; each award carries an $800,000 stipend to be used | ||
| however the recipient wishes; the MacArthur Foundation lauded | ||
| Mr. Laymon's profound honesty in bearing witness to the myriad | ||
| forms of violence that mark the Black experience; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Kiese Laymon is the acclaimed author of the 2018 | ||
| bestseller Heavy: An American Memoir, as well as the novel Long | ||
| Division and the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and | ||
| Others in America; his writing has also appeared in the New York | ||
| Times, the Washington Post, and Vanity Fair, among other | ||
| publications; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In January 2022, Mr. Laymon joined the faculty at | ||
| Rice as the Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of Creative Writing and | ||
| English; he previously taught at Vassar College and the University | ||
| of Mississippi; a Mississippi native, he founded the Catherine | ||
| Coleman Literary Arts and Justice Initiative at Jackson State | ||
| University to inspire youth and their parents to read, write, and | ||
| share their life stories; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Mr. Laymon holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin | ||
| College and a master of fine arts degree from Indiana University, | ||
| and he completed a Radcliffe Fellowship at Harvard University; over | ||
| the years, his work has garnered numerous accolades; Heavy won the | ||
| 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and it was | ||
| named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by the New York | ||
| Times and one of the 25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance by | ||
| Time magazine; in addition, the audiobook, read by the author, was | ||
| named the Audible 2018 Audiobook of the Year; Long Division | ||
| received an NAACP Image Award; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Through his literary works and his commitment to | ||
| creative writing education, Kiese Laymon has enriched the lives of | ||
| innumerable people, causing them to reflect more deeply on the | ||
| power of personal expression, and he is truly deserving of this | ||
| prestigious honor; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas | ||
| Legislature hereby congratulate Kiese Laymon on receiving a 2022 | ||
| MacArthur Fellowship and extend to him sincere best wishes for | ||
| continued success; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be | ||
| prepared for Mr. Laymon as an expression of high regard by the Texas | ||
| House of Representatives. | ||
