Colson Whitehead
The Underground RailroadWe’re delighted to be able to welcome Colson Whitehead to discuss his ‘brutal, vital and devastating novel’ (Observer) The Underground Railroad on 5th December in Arminius Rotterdam.
Praised by Barack Obama and an Oprah Book Club Pick, The Underground Railroad won the National Book Award 2016 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2017. Whitehead tells the story of Cora, a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia, who decides to take a terrifying risk and escape the brutal conditions on their plantation via the Underground Railroad. According to The Guardian, it is ‘a luminous, furious, wildly inventive tale that not only shines a bright light on one of the darkest periods of history, but also opens up thrilling new vistas for the form of the novel itself.’ Join us for an evening with one of the most important voices in America today.
Colson Whitehead has established himself as one of the most versatile and innovative writers in contemporary literature. From the secret lives of elevators to international poker tournaments, Whitehead takes on the marginal, the strange, and the surreal. He is the bestselling author of The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, The Colossus of New York (a book of essays about the city), Apex Hides the Hurt, Sag Harbor, Zone One and The Noble Hustle. His writing has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Harper’s, and Granta. Colson Whitehead was also named one of Time Magazine‘s ‘100 Most Influential People’ in April 2007.
Interview: Ernest van der Kwast.