Colson Whitehead
American novelist (born 1969)
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
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
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
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
Works
Fiction
Non-fiction
Essays
Short stories
References
^ 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 .
^ "2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners and Nominees" . The Pulitzer Prizes . 2017. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017 .
^ "2020 Pulitzer Prizes" . The Pulitzer Prizes. 2020. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ "Colson Whitehead" . Colsonwhitehead.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2008. Retrieved March 18, 2008 .
^ Smith, Nancy (July 17, 2012). "Interview with Colson Whitehead" . The Rumpus . Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2013 .
^ 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 .
^ "The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, 2016 National Book Award Winner, Fiction" . Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2016 .
^ "Colson Whitehead" . Pen.org. Archived from the original on June 10, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2008 .
^ a b Updike, John (May 7, 2001), "Tote That Ephemera", The New Yorker .
^ 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 .
^ Malloy, Allie, "Obama summer reading list: 'The Girl on the Train'" Archived August 13, 2016, at the Wayback Machine , CNN , August 12, 2016.
^ Begley, Sarah, "Here’s What President Obama Is Reading This Summer" Archived August 15, 2016, at the Wayback Machine , Time , August 12, 2016.
^ 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 .
^ "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.
^ "The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)" . pulitzer.org . Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2021 .
^ "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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ "Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead" . Penguin Random House . Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020 .
^ "Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead: 9780385545150 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books" . PenguinRandomhouse.com . Retrieved July 6, 2023 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ "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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ "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 .
^ "Clanchy, Whitehead win 2020 Orwell Prize" . Books+Publishing . July 10, 2020. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020 .
^ "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 .
^ 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
Fain, Kimberly. Colson Whitehead: The Postracial Voice of Contemporary Literature . Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Kelly, Adam. "Freedom to Struggle: The Ironies of Colson Whitehead" . Open Library of the Humanities (October 2018).
Maus, Derek C. Understanding Colson Whitehead, revised and expanded edition . University of South Carolina Press, 2021.
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 , http://www.jstor.org/stable/25426988.
External links
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