American novelist (born 1969)
Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead [ 1] novelist . He is the author of nine novels, including his1999 debutThe Intuitionist The Underground Railroad National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ; andThe Nickel Boys [ 2] [ 3] MacArthur Fellowship .
Whitehead was born inNew York City on November 6, 1969, and grew up inManhattan .[ 4] [ 5] [ 6] [ 7] [ 8] Trinity School in Manhattan and graduated fromHarvard University in 1991. In college, he became friends with poetKevin Young .[ 9]
After graduating from college, Whitehead wrote forThe Village Voice [ 10] [ 11] Voice , he began drafting his first novels.
Early in his career, Whitehead lived inFort Greene, Brooklyn .[ 12]
Whitehead has since produced 11 book-length works—nine novels and two nonfiction works, including a meditation on life in Manhattan in the style ofE. B. White 's famous 1949 essayHere Is New York . Whitehead's books areThe Intuitionist John Henry Days The Colossus of New York Apex Hides the Hurt Sag Harbor Zone One New York Times bestsellerThe Underground Railroad , which earned aNational Book Award for Fiction ;The Nickel Boys [ 13] [ 14] Harlem Shuffle Crook Manifesto Esquire The Intuitionist the best first novel of the year, andGQ [ 15] John Updike , reviewingThe Intuitionist inThe New Yorker [ 15] [ 16]
The Intuitionist was nominated as the Common Novel atRochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The Common Novel nomination was part of a longtime tradition at the Institute that included such authors asMaya Angelou ,Andre Dubus III ,William Joseph Kennedy , andAnthony Swofford .
Whitehead's nonfiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, includingThe New York Times The New Yorker Granta Harper's [ 17]
Whitehead at the 2011Brooklyn Book Festival His nonfiction account of the2011 World Series of Poker ,The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky & Death , was published byDoubleday in 2014.
Whitehead has taught atPrinceton University ,New York University , theUniversity of Houston ,Columbia University ,Brooklyn College ,Hunter College , andWesleyan University . He has been a writer-in-residence atVassar College , theUniversity of Richmond , and theUniversity of Wyoming .
In 2015, he joinedThe New York Times Magazine
The Underground Railroad Oprah's Book Club 2.0 , and was chosen by PresidentBarack Obama as one of five books on his summer vacation reading list.[ 18] [ 19] Atlanta , Georgia.[ 20] Hurston/Wright Award for fiction presented by the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation.[ 21] The Underground Railroad won the2017 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".[ 22]
Whitehead's seventh novel,The Nickel Boys Dozier School for Boys in Florida, where children convicted of minor offenses suffered violent abuse.[ 23] Time strap-line "America's Storyteller".[ 6] The Nickel Boys won the2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction .[ 24] [ 25] [ 26] film adaptation of the same name .[ 27]
Whitehead's eighth novel,Harlem Shuffle The Nickel Boys . It is a work of crime fiction set in Harlem during the 1960s.[ 6] COVID-19 pandemic .[ 28] Harlem Shuffle was published by Doubleday on September 14, 2021.[ 29] Crook Manifesto Harlem Shuffle , was published on July 18, 2023.[ 30]
Whitehead lives in Manhattan and also owns a home inSag Harbor onLong Island . His wife, Julie Barer, is a literary agent. They have two children.[ 31]
^ 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. RetrievedMay 5, 2020 .^ "2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners and Nominees" .The Pulitzer Prizes . 2017.Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. RetrievedApril 10, 2017 .^ "2020 Pulitzer Prizes" . The Pulitzer Prizes. 2020.Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. RetrievedMay 4, 2020 .^ Maus, Derek C. (2021).Understanding Colson Whitehead University of South Carolina Press . p. 2.ISBN 978-1-64336-175-8 OCLC 1228234654 .Archived from the original on March 22, 2023. RetrievedSeptember 4, 2021 . ^ Simms, Renee (July 23, 2017)."Arch Colson "Colson" Whitehead (1969- )" .BlackPast.org . RetrievedJuly 22, 2025 . ^a b c Jackson, Mitchell S. (June 27, 2019)." .Time Archived from the original on November 23, 2019. RetrievedNovember 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. RetrievedNovember 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. RetrievedMay 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. RetrievedJune 12, 2017 . ^ "Colson Whitehead" . Colsonwhitehead.com. Archived fromthe original on March 6, 2008. RetrievedMarch 18, 2008 .^ Smith, Nancy (July 17, 2012)."Interview with Colson Whitehead" .The Rumpus .Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. RetrievedMay 17, 2013 . ^ Whitehead, Colson (April 23, 2004)."Don't You Be My Neighbor" .NYMag.com .Archived from the original on May 11, 2020. RetrievedFebruary 19, 2019 . ^ "The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, 2016 National Book Award Winner, Fiction" . Archived fromthe original on December 8, 2017. RetrievedNovember 17, 2016 .^ "Colson Whitehead" . Pen.org. Archived fromthe original on June 10, 2007. RetrievedMarch 18, 2008 .^a b Updike, John (May 7, 2001), "Tote That Ephemera",The New Yorker ^ "Colson Whitehead" .National Endowment for the Humanities . RetrievedJuly 22, 2025 .^a b "Colson Whitehead to be awarded Longwood's Dos Passos Prize for Literature" . Longwood University. February 25, 2013. Archived fromthe original on May 12, 2013. RetrievedMay 17, 2013 .^ Malloy, Allie,"Obama summer reading list: 'The Girl on the Train'" ,CNN , August 12, 2016. ^ Begley, Sarah,"Here’s What President Obama Is Reading This Summer" ,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. RetrievedJanuary 26, 2017 . ^ "Colson Whitehead Honored Once Again for His NovelThe Underground Railroad " Archived October 25, 2017, at theWayback Machine ,The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education ^ "The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)" .pulitzer.org .Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. RetrievedJanuary 20, 2021 .^ "Author wins Pulitzer Prize for a second time" .BBC News . May 5, 2020.Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. RetrievedMay 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. RetrievedMay 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. RetrievedMay 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. RetrievedMay 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. RetrievedJanuary 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. RetrievedJanuary 2, 2021 . ^ "Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead" .Penguin Random House Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. RetrievedDecember 26, 2020 .^ "Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead: 9780385545150 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books" .PenguinRandomhouse.com . RetrievedJuly 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. RetrievedSeptember 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. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2021 . ^ "Library of Congress to honor author Colson Whitehead" .AP News . July 13, 2020.Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. RetrievedNovember 26, 2020 .^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Historical Fiction!" .Goodreads . RetrievedNovember 8, 2024 .^ 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. RetrievedDecember 11, 2023 . Crucchiola, Jordan (November 16, 2016)."Here Are the 2016 National Book Award Winners" .Vulture Archived from the original on December 12, 2023. RetrievedDecember 12, 2023 . ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Historical Fiction!" .Goodreads . RetrievedNovember 8, 2024 .^ "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. RetrievedMarch 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. RetrievedDecember 22, 2023 . ^ DeLeo, Isabella (January 13, 2020)."The National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for 2020 Awards" .Paste . ^ "2020 Alex Awards" .American Library Association ^ "Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence: Longlist 2020" .American Library Association ^ Dwyer, Colin (November 14, 2019)."Exclusive: 'Nickel Boys,' 'Other Americans' Among Nominees For Aspen Words Prize" .NPR . ^ "In Conversation with Golden Voice Narrator JD Jackson" .AudioFile ^ "Clanchy, Whitehead win 2020 Orwell Prize" .Books+Publishing . July 10, 2020.Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. RetrievedJuly 15, 2020 .^ "Announcement of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Winners" .The Pulitzer Prizes . May 4, 2020.Archived from the original on May 4, 2020. RetrievedMay 4, 2020 .^ "Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books, 2021" .Booklist .American Library Association . January 1, 2022.^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Mystery & Thriller!" .Goodreads . RetrievedNovember 8, 2024 .^ "Whitehead's 'Harlem Shuffle' among Kirkus Prize nominees" .Associated Press . September 14, 2021. RetrievedSeptember 3, 2025 .^ Pineda, Dorany (January 20, 2022)."Here are the finalists for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Awards" .Los Angeles Times . RetrievedSeptember 3, 2025 . ^ Schaub, Michael (January 27, 2022)."Finalists for the 2022 Gotham Book Prize Revealed" .Kirkus Reviews . RetrievedSeptember 5, 2025 . ^ "Macavity Awards" . Mystery Readers Journal. RetrievedSeptember 5, 2025 .^ Lewis, Hilary (January 18, 2022)."NAACP Image Awards: 'Harder They Fall,' 'Insecure' Lead Nominations" .The Hollywood Reporter . RetrievedSeptember 5, 2025 . ^ "2022 New York City Book Award Winners Announced" .Publishers Weekly . May 9, 2022. RetrievedSeptember 5, 2025 .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
1950–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
Previously the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel from 1917–1947
1918–1925 1926–1950 1951–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
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