The character arc of Colson Whitehead
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 6 November 1969 in New York City. Between then and now sit Trinity School, a Harvard degree in 1991, The Village Voice, The Intuitionist in 1999, a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002, the National Book Award in 2016, Pulitzer Prizes in 2017 and 2020, the National Humanities Medal in 2023 and the Langston Hughes Medal in 2024. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Colson Whitehead?
Two Pulitzers in four years.
He grew up in New York, went to Trinity School and graduated from Harvard in 1991, where he studied English and comparative literature. He wrote for The Village Voice, the alternative weekly, which is a good place to learn to write quickly and badly paid for it.
The Intuitionist, in 1999, is about a lift inspector, and it is the kind of first novel that tells you a writer is going to be difficult to predict. John Henry Days followed in 2001, Apex Hides the Hurt in 2006, Sag Harbor in 2009 and Zone One, a zombie novel, in 2011. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002, at thirty two, long before any of the prizes that made him famous.
Then came two books that changed the shape of his career. The Underground Railroad, in 2016, won the National Book Award for Fiction that year and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2017. The Nickel Boys, in 2019, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2020. Winning the Pulitzer for fiction twice puts him in a very short line of American writers. He then wrote Harlem Shuffle in 2021 and Crook Manifesto in 2023, which are crime novels, because he has never once written the book he was expected to write next. He received the National Humanities Medal in 2023 and the Langston Hughes Medal in 2024, and has taught at Princeton, NYU and Columbia.
The moments
Colson Whitehead's timeline.
The 1990s
Harvard
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A New York school, and then Harvard.
The Village Voice
Milestone, and it changed everything. An alternative weekly, which is a good place to learn to write quickly and be paid badly for it.
The Intuitionist
Milestone, and it changed everything. A first novel about a lift inspector, which tells you he was never going to be predictable.
The 2000s
John Henry Days
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A second novel, and nothing like the first.
A MacArthur Fellowship
Milestone, and it changed everything. At thirty two, fourteen years before any of the prizes people remember.
Sag Harbor
Milestone. Three more novels in five years, including a zombie novel.
The 2010s
The National Book Award
Milestone, and it changed everything. The National Book Award, and the book that changed the shape of his career.
A first Pulitzer
Milestone, and it changed everything. The highest prize in American fiction, at forty seven.
The 2020s
A second Pulitzer
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twice in four years. Almost nobody in American letters has done that.
Another prize book, or a caper
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: write a crime novel, taken, or write the expected book. He has never once written the book he was expected to write next, across nine novels.
Harlem Shuffle
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two crime novels, straight after two Pulitzer Prizes. He has never written the expected book.
A national medal
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two more medals, and a teaching career alongside the writing.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is nine novels in nine directions, by a writer who won the highest prize in American fiction twice and then wrote a caper.
What he wrote
Books by Colson Whitehead
- 1999
The Intuitionist
His first novel, about a lift inspector, and an early sign that he would never be predictable.
- 2001
John Henry Days
His second novel, and nothing at all like the first.
- 2009
Sag Harbor
A summer on Long Island, and his most directly autobiographical book.
- 2011
Zone One
A zombie novel, written between two literary novels, because he does that.
- 2016
The Underground Railroad
National Book Award for Fiction in 2016 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2017.
- 2019
The Nickel Boys
Set at a reform school in Florida. It won him a second Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2020.
- 2021
Harlem Shuffle
A heist novel set in Harlem, published straight after two Pulitzer Prizes.
- 2023
Crook Manifesto
The sequel to Harlem Shuffle, and the second of the Harlem crime novels.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His never once wrote the book he was expected to write next. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Colson Whitehead: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
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Where did Colson Whitehead study and teach?
Where does this timeline of Colson Whitehead's life come from?
More character arcs
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Sources
- Colson Whitehead, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- The Pulitzer Prizes, fiction, 2017 and 2020.
- National Book Foundation, National Book Award for Fiction, 2016.