Author Colson Whitehead: The Power of Story

Join us for a live, virtual event with Pulitzer Prize winning author Colson Whitehead on Zoom, courtesy of Harvard Diggins Library’s participation in Illinois Libraries Present.

Please be sure to select “Harvard Diggins Library” when registering using the form here. If you would prefer to livestream the event in-person on the Library’s big screen, please contact us at 815-943-4671.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys, Harlem Shuffle, The Noble Hustle, Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and a collection of essays, Whitehead is only the fourth writer to win two Pulitzers in the Fiction category (for Underground Railroad in 2018 and The Nickel Boys in 2020). His highly anticipated latest, Crook Manifesto, is a darkly funny tale of a city under siege, but also a sneakily searching portrait of the meaning of family.

His reviews, essays, and fiction have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Harper’s and Granta. Whitehead has received a MacArthur Fellowship and Guggenheim Fellowship and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, among others. In 2023, President Biden awarded Whitehead a National Endowment for the Humanities Medal. He has taught extensively, including at Columbia University, Princeton University, and Brooklyn College, and has been a Writer-in-Residence at Vassar College, the University of Richmond, and University of Wyoming. He lives in New York City.

This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premier events. ILP is funded in part by a grant awarded by the Illinois State Library, a department of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). ILP is committed to inclusion and accessibility.

To request accommodations, please email illinoislibrariespresent@gmail.com