Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Leslie Marmon Silko was one of the original recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship. She won the award in 1981, before the fellowship became known as the "Genius Grant." Does that make her a retroactive genius? (Source)
Depending on whom you ask, Leslie Marmon Silko is either the first or second female Native American novelist. (Some critics contend that a novelist named Mourning Dove was actually the first.) Either way, she's definitely a trailblazer.