Colson Whitehead

My name is Makenna Louis-Karch and I am a student at the University of Arizona. I am eager to finish off the semester in an interesting way and closing out with Colson Whitehead. This blog will provide information on his life and accomplishments. Whitehead's process of writing and thoughts on inspiration has really impacted my life and taught me a lot about myself while learning about him. "You can't rush inspiration" is one of my favorite quotes from him because it inspires me to just live life and take it all in, eventually inspiration will come.

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A 11 minute26 second Movenote presentation.

A link to my author discussion regarding Colson Whitehead. 

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Colson Whitehead talks about his writing process and where he gets ideas from. 

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What isn't said is as important as what is said.

Colson Whitehead (via BrainyQuote)

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Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “The eternal tension between good luck and remorseless odds animates this loose-limbed jaunt through the world of high-stakes poker...Whitehead serves up an engrossing mix of casual yet astute reportage and hang-dog philosophizing, showing us that, for all of poker’s intricate calculations and shrewd stratagems, everything still hangs on the turn of a card.”

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And Booklist says that “This diabolically smart, covertly sensitive, ruminative, and witty zombie nightmare prods us to think about how we dehumanize others, how society tramples and consumes individuals, how flimsy our notions of law and order are, and how easily deluded and profoundly vulnerable humankind is. A deft, wily, and unnerving blend of pulse-elevating action and sniper-precise satire.”

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“By acknowledging that adolescence’s indignities are universal, and that the search for self is endless, Sag Harbor brings this truth home” -- Vanity Fair

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“Brilliant. . . . Exhilarating. . . . What keeps you reading this critique of language is its language, and our perverse delight in the ingenious abuse of words.” —The New York Times

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“A love letter to New York. . . . Colossus illuminates innumerable little moments that define the city.” —San Francisco Chronicle

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“Does what writing should do; it refreshes our sense of the world. . . . An ambitious, finely chiseled work.” --John Updike, The New Yorker

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"Ingenious and starkly original...Literary reputations may not always rise and fall as predictably as elevators, bit if there's any justice in the world of fiction, Colson Whitehead's should be heading toward the upper floors." --The New York Times Book Review

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You can't rush inspiration

Colson Whitehead (via BrainyQuote)

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Colson Whitehead on Zombies, 'Zone One,' and His Love of the VCR

An interview with the novelist about his new book, which is out this week

Colson Whitehead was interviewed by The Atlantic and goes into detail on his book “Zone One” and discusses some of his inspirations. 

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Colson Whitehead’s Rules for Writing

Simple rules for becoming a better writer, from the author of “Zone One.”

Whitehead wrote an article on his personal Rules for Writing in the New York Times. 

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“Colson Whitehead was born in 1969, and was raised in Manhattan. After graduating from Harvard College, he started working at the Village Voice, where he wrote reviews of television, books, and music.His first novel, The Intuitionist, concerned intrigue in the Department of Elevator Inspectors, and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway and a winner of the Quality Paperback Book Club's New Voices Award. Colson Whitehead's reviews, essays, and fiction have appeared in a number of publications, such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Harper's and Granta.He has received a MacArthur Fellowship, A Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, and a fellowship at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.”