Jonathan Lethem's novel Motherless Brooklyn put him on the literary register and won him a National Book Critics Circle Award. Prior to that he wrote four genre fiction (detective and sci–fi) books including the post–apocalyptic novel, Amnesia Moon. Lethem has since published four more critically acclaimed books including The Fortress of Solitude and Brooklyn Crime Novel. He has also written a number of short story collections, and several books of nonfiction. In 2005, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. Lethem teaches creative writing at Pomona College.