Colson Whitehead is the author of seven novels including Zone One; Sag Harbor; The Intuitionist, (a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award); John Henry Days, (which won the Young Lions Fiction Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize); and Apex Hides the Hurt, (winner of the PEN Oakland Award).
His most famous work is the novel The Underground Railroad, winner of the following awards: the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Carnegie Medal, the Heartland Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Hurston-Wright Award, as well as being longlisted for the Booker Prize.
His newest novel is The Nickel Boys. This book has been chosen as the Barnes & Nobel Bookclub Pick for the month of August – so I’m very excited to be reading this one next!
He has also written a book of essays about his home town, The Colossus of New York, and a non-fiction account of the 2011 World Series of Poker called The Noble Hustle.
As an author, Mr. Whitehead is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship.
My favorite Colson Whitehead quote about writing is, “There’s a time to wait, and there’s a time to bite off the project you don’t think you can pull off.”
You can wait to make your work perfect, but there is also a moment where you need to jump in and finish that book!
Purchase your copy of The Underground Railroad here.
Purchase Mr. Whitehead’s newest novel, The Nickel Boys here.
