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Colson Whitehead

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Colson Whitehead
Whitehead at the 2014 Texas Book Festival, Austin, Texas
Whitehead in 2014
BornArch Colson Chipp Whitehead
(1969-11-06) November 6, 1969 (age 55)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationWriter
EducationHarvard University (BA)
GenreFiction, non-fiction
Notable worksThe Intuitionist (1999), John Henry Days (2001), Zone One (2011), The Underground Railroad (2016), The Nickel Boys (2019)
Notable awardsNational Book Award for Fiction (2016)
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2017 and 2020)
SpouseJulie Barer
Children2
Website
colsonwhitehead.com

Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead[1] (born November 6, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of nine 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 prize twice.[2][3] He has also published two books of nonfiction. In 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.

Early life

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Whitehead was born in New York City on November 6, 1969, and grew up in Manhattan.[4] He is one of four children of successful entrepreneur parents who owned an executive recruiting firm.[5][6] As a child in Manhattan, Whitehead went by his first name Arch. He later switched to Chipp, before switching to Colson.[7] He attended Trinity School in Manhattan and graduated from Harvard University in 1991. In college, he became friends with poet Kevin Young.[8]

Career

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After graduating from college, Whitehead wrote for The Village Voice.[9][10] While working at the Voice, he began drafting his first novels.

Early in his career, Whitehead lived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.[11]

Whitehead has since produced 11 book-length works—nine novels and two nonfiction works, including a meditation on life in Manhattan in the style of E. B. White's famous 1949 essay Here Is New York. Whitehead's books are The Intuitionist (1999); John Henry Days (2001); The Colossus of New York (2003); Apex Hides the Hurt (2006); Sag Harbor (2009); 2011's Zone One, a New York Times bestseller; 2016's The Underground Railroad, which earned a National Book Award for Fiction; The Nickel Boys (2019);[12][13] Harlem Shuffle (2021); and Crook Manifesto (2023). Esquire magazine named The Intuitionist the best first novel of the year, and GQ called it one of the "novels of the millennium".[14] Novelist John Updike, reviewing The Intuitionist in The New Yorker, called Whitehead "ambitious", "scintillating", and "strikingly original", adding: "The young African-American writer to watch may well be a thirty-one-year-old Harvard graduate with the vivid name of Colson Whitehead."[14]

The Intuitionist was nominated as the Common Novel at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The Common Novel nomination was part of a longtime tradition at the Institute that included such authors as Maya Angelou, Andre Dubus III, William Joseph Kennedy, and Anthony Swofford.

Whitehead's nonfiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Granta, and Harper's.[15]

Whitehead at the 2011 Brooklyn Book Festival

His nonfiction account of the 2011 World Series of Poker, The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky & Death, was published by Doubleday in 2014.

Whitehead has taught at Princeton University, New York University, the University of Houston, Columbia University, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, and Wesleyan University. He has been a writer-in-residence at Vassar College, the University of Richmond, and the University of Wyoming.

In 2015, he joined The New York Times Magazine to write a column on language.

The Underground Railroad was a selection of Oprah's Book Club 2.0, and was chosen by President Barack Obama as one of five books on his summer vacation reading list.[16][17] In 2017, the novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction at the American Library Association Mid-Winter Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.[18] Colson was honored with the 2017 Hurston/Wright Award for fiction presented by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation.[19] The Underground Railroad won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Judges of the prize called the novel "a smart melding of realism and allegory that combines the violence of slavery and the drama of escape in a myth that speaks to contemporary America".[20]

Whitehead's seventh novel, The Nickel Boys, was published in 2019. It was inspired by the story of the Dozier School for Boys in Florida, where children convicted of minor offenses suffered violent abuse.[21] In conjunction with its publication, Whitehead was featured on the cover Time magazine's July 8, 2019, edition, alongside the strap-line "America's Storyteller".[5] The Nickel Boys won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[22] Judges of the prize called the novel "a spare and devastating exploration of abuse at a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida that is ultimately a powerful tale of human perseverance, dignity and redemption".[23] It was Whitehead's second win, making him the fourth writer to win the prize twice.[24] In 2022, it was announced that Whitehead will executive produce the upcoming film adaptation of the same name.[25]

Whitehead's eighth novel, Harlem Shuffle, was conceived and begun before he wrote The Nickel Boys. It is a work of crime fiction set in Harlem during the 1960s.[5] Whitehead spent years writing it, and finished it in "bite-sized chunks" during the months he spent in quarantine in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic.[26] Harlem Shuffle was published by Doubleday on September 14, 2021.[27] Crook Manifesto, Whitehead's ninth novel and a follow-up to Harlem Shuffle, was published on July 18, 2023.[28]

Personal life

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Whitehead lives in Manhattan and also owns a home in Sag Harbor on Long Island. His wife, Julie Barer, is a literary agent. They have two children.[29]

Honors

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For The Intuitionist

For John Henry Days

For Apex Hides the Hurt

For Sag Harbor

For Zone One

For The Underground Railroad

For The Nickel Boys

Works

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Fiction

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  • The Intuitionist (1999), ISBN 0-385-49299-5
  • John Henry Days (2001), ISBN 0-385-49819-5
  • Apex Hides the Hurt (2006), ISBN 0-385-50795-X
  • Sag Harbor (2009), ISBN 0-385-52765-9
  • Zone One (2011), ISBN 978-0-385-52807-8
  • The Underground Railroad (2016), ISBN 978-0-385-54236-4
  • The Nickel Boys (2019), ISBN 978-0-385-53707-0
  • Harlem Shuffle (2021), ISBN 978-0-385-54513-6
  • Crook Manifesto (2023), ISBN 978-0-385-54515-0

Non-fiction

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Essays

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Short stories

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References

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  1. ^ Sehgal, Parul (July 11, 2019). "In 'The Nickel Boys,' Colson Whitehead Continues to Make a Classic American Genre His Own". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  2. ^ "2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners and Nominees". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2017. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  3. ^ "2020 Pulitzer Prizes". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2020. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  4. ^ Maus, Derek C. (2021). Understanding Colson Whitehead (2nd ed.). University of South Carolina Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-64336-175-8. OCLC 1228234654. Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Jackson, Mitchell S. (June 27, 2019). "'I Carry It Within Me.' Novelist Colson Whitehead Reminds Us How America's Racist History Lives On". Time. Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  6. ^ Brockes, Emma (July 7, 2017). "Colson Whitehead: 'To deal with this subject with the gravity it deserved was scary'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  7. ^ Sandhu, Sukhdev (July 20, 2019). "Colson Whitehead: 'We have kids in concentration camps. But I have to be hopeful'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  8. ^ Purcell, Andrew (May 20, 2017). "Colson Whitehead: 'The truth of things, not the facts'". Western Advocate. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  9. ^ "Colson Whitehead". Colsonwhitehead.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  10. ^ Smith, Nancy (July 17, 2012). "Interview with Colson Whitehead". The Rumpus. Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  11. ^ Whitehead, Colson (April 23, 2004). "Don't You Be My Neighbor". NYMag.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  12. ^ "The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, 2016 National Book Award Winner, Fiction". Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  13. ^ "Colson Whitehead". Pen.org. Archived from the original on June 10, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
  14. ^ a b Updike, John (May 7, 2001), "Tote That Ephemera", The New Yorker.
  15. ^ a b "Colson Whitehead to be awarded Longwood's Dos Passos Prize for Literature". Longwood University. February 25, 2013. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2013.
  16. ^ Malloy, Allie, "Obama summer reading list: 'The Girl on the Train'" Archived August 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, CNN, August 12, 2016.
  17. ^ Begley, Sarah, "Here’s What President Obama Is Reading This Summer" Archived August 15, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Time, August 12, 2016.
  18. ^ French, Agatha (January 23, 2017). "American Library Assn.'s 2017 award winners include 'March: Book Three' by Rep. John Lewis". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  19. ^ "Colson Whitehead Honored Once Again for His Novel The Underground Railroad" Archived October 25, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, October 25, 2017.
  20. ^ "The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)". pulitzer.org. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  21. ^ "Author wins Pulitzer Prize for a second time". BBC News. May 5, 2020. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  22. ^ Lee, Benjamin (May 4, 2020). "Colson Whitehead and This American Life among Pulitzer 2020 winners". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 4, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  23. ^ Maher, John (May 4, 2020). "Moser, Whitehead, McDaniel, Grandin, Boyer, Brown Win 2020 Pulitzers". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  24. ^ Tucker, Emma (May 4, 2020). "Colson Whitehead Wins Second Pulitzer Prize for Fiction". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  25. ^ Grobar, Matt t (October 27, 2022). "Aunjanue Ellis & Four Others Set For RaMell Ross' Colson Whitehead Adaptation 'The Nickel Boys' For MGM's Orion; Plan B, Anonymous Producing". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 1, 2023. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  26. ^ Canfield, David (July 15, 2020). "Colson Whitehead is now the most decorated writer of his generation. He's not slowing down". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  27. ^ "Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  28. ^ "Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead: 9780385545150 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved July 6, 2023.
  29. ^ O'Hagan, Sean (June 21, 2020). "Colson Whitehead: 'We invent all sorts of different reasons to hate people'". The Observer. Archived from the original on September 4, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  30. ^ Gonzalez-Espinoza, Karina G.; Lin, Grace (April 27, 2018). "Novelist Colson Whitehead Wins 2018 Harvard Arts Medal". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
  31. ^ "Library of Congress to honor author Colson Whitehead". AP News. July 13, 2020. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  32. ^ Alter, Alexandra (October 6, 2016). "National Book Awards Finalists Include Colson Whitehead and Viet Thanh Nguyen". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
    Crucchiola, Jordan (November 16, 2016). "Here Are the 2016 National Book Award Winners". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  33. ^ Albanese, Andrew (January 23, 2017). "ALA Midwinter 2017: Colson Whitehead, Matthew Desmond Win ALA Carnegie Medals". PublishersWeekly.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  34. ^ "Announcement of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winners". The Pulitzer Prizes. May 4, 2020. Archived from the original on May 4, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  35. ^ "Clanchy, Whitehead win 2020 Orwell Prize". Books+Publishing. July 10, 2020. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  36. ^ "Colson Whitehead Novel Wins $50,000 Kirkus Prize". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. October 24, 2019. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2002.
  37. ^ Malone Kircher, Madison (September 20, 2019). "Here Is the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction Longlist". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 22, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.

Further reading

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  • Elam, Michele. "Passing in the Post-Race Era: Danzy Senna, Philip Roth, and Colson Whitehead". African American Review, vol. 41, no. 4, 2007, pp. 749–68. JSTOR 25426988.
  • Fain, Kimberly (2015). Colson Whitehead: The Postracial Voice of Contemporary Literature. Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Kelly, Adam (October 2018). "Freedom to Struggle: The Ironies of Colson Whitehead". Open Library of the Humanities.
  • Maus, Derek C. (2021). Understanding Colson Whitehead, revised and expanded edition. University of South Carolina Press.
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