Colson Whitehead
-
The Chosen One
Colson Whitehead’s new novel, The Underground Railroad, was announced as an Oprah’s Book Club selection on the day of its release. Speaking to Michelle Dean in the Guardian, Whitehead discusses his reaction to the news: “I called her back and she said:…
-
VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Jaquira Díaz
Jaquira Díaz discusses the challenge of writing about family members, her greatest joy as a writer, and her literary role models.
-
Not a Healer
I thought, why not write the book that really scares you? At the New York Times, Jennifer Schuessler talks with Colson Whitehead about his new book, The Underground Railroad, which features the underground railroad literalized as a railroad, underground.
-
The Sunday Rumpus Interview: Chaitali Sen
Swati Khurana talks to the author of The Pathless Sky, a love story centered around place, the state’s authority, statelessness, and geology.
-
Tautophrases and Narcissism
In a world where the selfie has become our dominant art form, tautological phrases like “You do you” and its tribe provide a philosophical scaffolding for our ever-evolving, ever more complicated narcissism. Colson Whitehead examines the relationship between “tautophrases” and contemporary narcissism…
-
Notable NYC: 3/21–3/27
Saturday 3/21: Phil Klay reads from his National Book Award for Fiction collection Redeployment. He is joined in conversation by Rob Spillman. Brooklyn Public Library, 4 p.m., free. Rob Crawford, Sabra Embury, Hannah Assadi, Genna Rivieccio, Amanda Killian, Armando Jaramillo…
-
Notable NYC: 3/7–3/13
Saturday 3/7: Cynthia Daignault and Joseph Mosconi join the Segue Series. Zinc Bar, 4:30 p.m., free. Sunday 3/8: Ashley C. Ford, Daniel Jose Older, and Cynthia Cruz launch a new discussion series, The Hustle, that examines how writers work. WORD…
-
The “Loser Edit”
For the New York Times Magazine, Colson Whitehead traces the conception of the “loser edit,” and how it awaits us all. Fifteen years after the emergence of shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race, “the critical language used to carve…
-
Good Riddance to the Goodbye-to-New-York Essay
Joan Didion’s “Goodbye to All That” has spawned a new literary genre: the personal screed about loving (or leaving) New York City.
-
Notable NYC: 11/8–11/14
Saturday 11/8: Brooklyn Comic Arts Festival. Mt. Carmel Church, 11 a.m., free. Elizabeth Lopeman reads Trans Europe Express (November 2014) about an American au pair considering abandoning her host family. BookCourt, 4 p.m., free. Peter Friedman, Rachel Nelson, Tommy Pico,…
-
Been Here Before
After years of anxious separation, people are finally relaxing about the literary/genre fiction divide. Over at Electric Literature, Tobias Carroll asks: now what? We’re now well into a period where literary writers are able to balance their love for horror…
-
Second Time’s the Charm
Slate and the Whiting Foundation have teamed up to save authors from the dreaded sophomore slump in a quest to unearth the five best second novels of the last five years. Novelists Yiyun Li and Colson Whitehead will be judging…