Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead is an American novelist. He has authored 11 books, including a poker memoir, The Noble Hustle, and the Pulitzer-winning novels The Underground Railroad, adapted for TV in 2021, and The Nickel Boys, about an abusive reform school in the Jim Crow era.

Colson Whitehead was raised in the vibrant streets of Manhattan during the tumultuous 70s and 80s. Fascinated by the unpredictable nature of the city, he harboured a passion for horror fiction, inspired by the works of Stephen King that his mother frequently brought home.

After graduating from Trinity School in Manhattan, Whitehead went on to earn his degree from Harvard University in 1991. At Harvard, he developed a close friendship with the poet Kevin Young.

Aside from his college years, he worked as a literary journalist at the Village Voice, where he wrote reviews of music, literature, and television.

He debuted with The Intuitionist in 1999. It featured a gripping narrative set within the enigmatic Department of Elevator Inspectors. This work not only secured him a spot as a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award but also garnered the esteemed Quality Paperback Book Club's New Voices Award.

Whitehead's literary accomplishments expanded with works like John Henry Days (2001), which delved into the American folk legend, earning him accolades such as the Young Lions Fiction Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.

He also published The Colossus of New York (2003)), a collection of essays capturing the essence of the city, and Apex Hides the Hurt (2006), a novel delving into the world of a "nomenclature consultant," which received the PEN/Oakland Award.

His acclaimed novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, both garnered the Pulitzer Prize, solidifying his reputation as a masterful storyteller. The Underground Railroad was also a National Book Award winner and a #1 New York Times Bestseller.

The Nickel Boys (2019), inspired by the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Florida, received the Kirkus Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.

Whitehead has been honoured with several prestigious accolades, including the MacArthur Fellowship, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Whiting Writers Award, and the Dos Passos Prize.

Notably, he served as the New York State Author in 2018 and was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction in 2020, underscoring his profound impact on contemporary literary culture.

His new novel, Crook Manifesto (2023), the second instalment in the Harlem Trilogy, takes place in the 1970s and rejoins furniture salesman and stolen-goods dealer Ray Carney, first seen in Harlem Shuffle, a crime caper "subversively using the genre against itself" (the Atlantic magazine).

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

Colson Whitehead lives on Long Island in New York City.

Photo credit: www.colsonwhitehead.com