Lauren Redniss (b. 1974) is an American artist and writer.[1] She was awarded a "Genius Grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2016.

Lauren Redniss
Born1974 (age 49–50)
LanguageEnglish and French
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBrown University
Notable worksThunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future
Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout
Notable awardsPEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award (2016), MacArthur Fellow (2016)

Education

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Redniss graduated from Brown University. She earned an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay in 2000 from the School of Visual Arts.[2]

Career

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Redniss is the author of several works of visual non-fiction. Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout (2010) was a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award, the first work of visual non-fiction to be so recognized.[3] Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future (2015) won the 2016 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.[4][5] The New York Times called Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West (2020) "astonishing" and "virtuosic."[6]

In 2021, the New Yorker magazine wrote, "In the world of arts and letters, there isn’t anyone quite like Lauren Redniss.... Reading her work is like poring over the notebooks of a hyper-literate, hyper-curious, and slightly mad artist."[7] The Sunday Telegraph has called Redniss' work "some of the most inventive, rigorous and beguiling published anywhere in the world."[8] In its citation of Radioactive, the National Book Foundation wrote: "Redniss' achievement is a celebration of the essential power of books to inform, charm, and transport. In marrying the graphic and visual arts with biography and cultural history, she has expanded the realm of non-fiction."[1]

Redniss is also the author of Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of Ziegfeld Follies (2006). Her writing and drawing have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times, which nominated her work for the Pulitzer Prize.[1]

Redniss has been a New America Foundation fellow,[9] a Guggenheim Foundation fellow,[10] a fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars & Writers,[11] and Artist-in-Residence at the American Museum of Natural History.[12] She teaches at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.

In other media

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In 2019, a major motion picture adaptation of Radioactive, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.[13] The film, directed by Marjane Satrapi, starred Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie, Sam Riley as Pierre Curie, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Irène Curie.

In 2020, Redniss created a large installation at Lincoln Center for New York City Ballet. Her installation featured portraits and oral histories of over 100 people who work behind the scenes at the theater.[14][15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "About Lauren Redniss". Laurenredniss.com. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  2. ^ "Alumni Notes and Exhibitions," Visual Arts Journal (Spring/Summer 2022), p. 75.
  3. ^ Cavna, Michael (January 1, 1970). "'RADIOACTIVE' MAKES HISTORY: 'Curie' author shares shock over becoming National Book Award finalist". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  4. ^ "2016 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award | PEN America". Pen.org. September 22, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  5. ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (October 26, 2015). "For the Author Lauren Redniss, No Such Thing as Bad Weather". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Griswold, Eliza (November 17, 2020). "A Copper Mine vs. Sacred Apache Land: The Story in Words and Images". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  7. ^ "Lauren Redniss and the Art of the Indescribable". The New Yorker. July 23, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  8. ^ Gaby Wood (January 23, 2016). "Is this the year's most political picture book?". The Telegraph. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  9. ^ "Current Class of National Fellows". New America. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  10. ^ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Lauren Redniss". Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  11. ^ "The New York Public Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers Names 2008-2009 Fellows". The New York Public Library. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  12. ^ Schuessler, Jennifer (October 26, 2015). "For the Author Lauren Redniss, No Such Thing as Bad Weather". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  13. ^ Young, Deborah (September 6, 2019). "'Radioactive': Film Review | TIFF 2019". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  14. ^ "Lauren Redniss | New York City Ballet". www.nycballet.com. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
  15. ^ Nguyen, Jennimai (January 31, 2020). "Portraits of Backstage Stars of the New York City Ballet". The Cut. Retrieved October 2, 2021.