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Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead is an American novelist. He is the author of ten novels, including his 1999 debut The Intuitionist; The Underground Railroad (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and The Nickel Boys, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction again in 2020, making him one of only four writers ever to win the priz…
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culture · American novelist (born 1969) · novelist · journalist · literary critic · writer · author · also Colson Whitehead, Whitehead
Born 6 November 1969 · Q509662
46 published statements · 0 followers
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In terms of being picked up by police, everyone who is black has had that experience to the point where it’s not even that interesting. That’s been my acquaintance with white law enforcement since I was a teenager, and it was my parents’ experience and my grandparents’ experience.
85%The Guardian
“the last third of the book is really about all the other stuff that is not in those two lines: what do you do with that? How do you live with that knowledge? And, how do you make a life?”
“In terms of being picked up by police, everyone who is black has had that experience to the point where it’s not even that interesting. That’s been my acquaintance with white law enforcement since I was a teenager, and it was my parents’ experience and my grandparents’ experience.”
“but, hey, hopefully new wave will never go away and people will be playing bad synth-pop 50 years from now. That would be great.”
“The early weeks were the worst in terms of the psychology of it. Then you get used to it to a degree and make your adjustments. But here we are, 12 weeks in, and we’re still figuring out the new reality. It’s still pretty uncertain.”
“I hope that right now there’s a young kid who looks like me, who sees the Library of Congress recognize Black artists and feels encouraged to pursue their own vision and find their own sacred spaces of inspiration.”
“And then it dawned upon me: Michael Brown and Eric Garner are just a couple of examples of the many terrible incidents that are happening around us that we don’t see. Dozier is one reform school; there are more. Then there’s the tragic fact that no one cared. For a couple of decades, kids were coming forward. And nobody cared. Not even now: they were digging up bodies but it was just a one-day news story.”
“In fifth grade, we did 10 minutes on slavery and 40 minutes on Abraham Lincoln, and in 10th grade you might do 10 minutes on the civil rights era and 40 minutes on Martin Luther King and that’s it. I think it’s probably better now. But there’s no reason for the powers that be to address that part of history.”
“they told me journalists make $14,000 a year. Which seemed like a lot to me, frankly. But they wanted me to become a lawyer or a doctor or have some upstanding job. It wasn’t until my first book was finally out and they could hold it in their hand and it was being reviewed that they would stop urging me to get a real job.”
“When I have free time, the one I end up thinking most about is the one I end up pursuing.”
“But I’ve been in a really good mood for the last year. So, that’s new, and a nice feature.”
“Upscale; bourgeois values. The whole constellation of satisfied, complacent, et voilà.”
Yahoo: Colson Whitehead’s Long Con
Variety reported that Whitehead's "Harlem Trilogy" was in development at Apple TV, with Graham Yost and Aric Avelino adapting the books
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Public attention spiked: 3,982 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.5× the usual 882, with 1 article edits. Editors noted: Early life and education minor word removal, already says he grew up in Manhattan
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Public attention spiked: 4,183 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.7× the usual 882, with 0 article edits.
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The Guardian: Nickel Boys review – sublime, immersive adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s haunting reform school novel
The Guardian: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead audiobook review – a dark chapter in America’s past
The Guardian: Nickel Boys review – Colson Whitehead novel becomes intensely moving story of a racist reform school
The Guardian: This month’s best paperbacks: Colson Whitehead, Britney Spears and more
The Guardian: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead audiobook review – New York’s criminal underworld
The Guardian: Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead review – a dazzling sequel to Harlem Shuffle
Awarded Hammett Prize for Crook Manifesto (2023).
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The Guardian: Colson Whitehead: ‘When I read Invisible Man I thought maybe there’s room for a Black weirdo like me’
It was announced that Whitehead would executive produce the 2024 film adaptation of the same name
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The Guardian: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead review – a delicious heist novel
The Guardian: New hustle: Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead on his heist novel
The Guardian: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead review – a zinging wiseguy noir thriller
Won National Humanities Medal (2021).
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Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Nickel Boys (2020).
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Awarded Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction (2020).
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Awarded Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for The Nickel Boys (2020).
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Making him one of only four writers ever to win the prize twice
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“That was new to me. The Underground Railroad was also rough, but it didn’t affect me in the same way. I had a lot of affection for Elwood and Turner. Two years before I had had the idea that set them on their course and now it was coming to an end. I remember that, when I finished the book on the July 4th weekend of 2018, I just turned off Microsoft Word and turned on XCOM . I played video games for six weeks. I just vegged out. It definitely helped.”
Awarded Arthur C. Clarke Award for The Underground Railroad (2017).
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Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad (2017).
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The novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction at the American Library Association Mid-Winter Conference in Atlanta, Georgia
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Awarded National Book Award (2016).
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Joined The New York Times Magazine to write a column on language
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Awarded Dos Passos Prize (2012).
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Awarded PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award (2008).
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Awarded Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards for John Henry Days (2002).
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Awarded MacArthur Fellows Program (2002).
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Where he studied English and Comparative Literature
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Born 1969-11-06.
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“You could write about 1850 or 1963 or 2020 and it all applies unfortunately. It’s ongoing and it will be ongoing for many years.”
And then it dawned upon me: Michael Brown and Eric Garner are just a couple of examples of the many terrible incidents that are happening around us that we don’t see. Dozier is one reform school; there are more. Then there’s the tragic fact that no one cared. For a couple of decades, kids were coming forward. And nobody cared. Not even now: they were digging up bodies but it was just a one-day news story.
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