I'm an African-American writer, I'm a lazy writer, I'm a writer who likes to watch The Wire, I'm a writer who likes… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I was inspired to become a writer by horror movies and science fiction. — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
There are good writers and bad writers. It's hard to find writers who really speak to you, but the work is out… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
Google "brooklyn writer" and you'll get, Did you mean: the future of literature as we know it? — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I do write about race a lot, but I don't think writers - of any shade or background or whatever - have… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
As I get older and write more books I'm definitely allowing the humorous side of my personality more rein in my work. — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
If you're writing a detective novel or horror or sci-fi, you want to expand or reinvigorate the genre in your own little… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
It's always hard to write and get your words out there, to find an editor, a publisher - readers! - who are… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I started writing in the '90s, so I was free to just have an eccentric career and not conform to some idea… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I write at home. I like to be able to take a nap, watch TV, make a sandwich, and if I wake… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
A lot of my writer friends live near me, and that makes people think we just hang around with one another in… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I write books and either people read them or they don't read them. The rise of Facebook or e-books doesn't change the… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
Anytime an African-American writes an unconventional novel, the writer gets compared to Ellison. But that's O.K. I am working in the African-American… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I like movies. I've written screenplays as a sort of procrastination thing for me. Like I'll work for a couple months on… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I write the books that I'm compelled to and I definitely learn things about the world when I write them, and I… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
Growing up devouring horror comics and novels, and being inspired to become a writer because of horror novels, movies, and comic books,… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I want to keep growing as a writer. I find myself doing unexpected projects and sort of challenging my idea of where… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I can't say that you should extract this or that value from my books explicitly. They are up for interpretation. In terms… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
In terms of the economics, yes obviously the rise of e-books and how people choose to read books has a big effect… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
When I was a kid, I'd go to the African-American section in the bookstore, and I'd try and find African-American people I… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
These days I find myself wanting to avoid being pigeon-holed, ghettoized, held in a different category than other authors. And when people… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I get invited to do panels with other Brooklyn writers to discuss what it's like to be a writer in Brooklyn. I… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I get invited to do panels with other Brooklyn writers to discuss what it's like to be a writer in Brooklyn. I… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I grew up reading the 'Village Voice' and wanting to be one of these multidisciplinary music writers, film writers, book writers. And… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
In the 1930s, the government paid writers to interview 80- and 90-year-old former slaves, and I read those accounts. I came away… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
People don't like it when you compare the miracle of childbirth to writing a book, but I think there is some overlap… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I think being a writer was a crappy job when you just had typewriters. It was crappy when we just had ink… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
Most people say, "Show, don't tell," but I stand by Show and Tell, because when writers put their work out into the… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I wrote a book of essays about New York called 'The Colossus of New York,' but it's not about - you know,… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
Twenty years ago, when I started writing, I didn't define myself as an African-American writer. And then you write books and you're… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
Early on my career, I figured out that I just have to write the book I have to write at that moment.… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share Image
I'd never been much of an athlete, due to a physical condition I'd had since birth (unathleticism). Perhaps if there were a sport centered… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
I want to keep growing as a writer. I find myself doing unexpected projects and sort of challenging my idea of where I am… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
“Every Tuesday, James Fulton (and later, Orville Lever) stood in the downstairs drawing room and lectured on the intricacies of his science. Lectured on… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
I started writing in the '90s, so I was free to just have an eccentric career and not conform to some idea of what… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
“The Great War had always been between the white and the black. It always would be. Cora” — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
“The worst sort of scoundrels took up the chase. Drunkards, incorrigibles, poor whites who didn’t even own shoes delighted in this opportunity to scourge… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
Don’t go searching for a subject, let your subject find you. You can’t rush inspiration. … Once your subject finds you, it’s like falling… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
“its terms? Homer watched her as she dressed, like a valet who had waited on her since the cradle. “I’m caught,” Cora said. “You… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
These days I find myself wanting to avoid being pigeon-holed, ghettoized, held in a different category than other authors. And when people ask me… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
Part of any book is establishing the rules at the end of the world. My first book, 'The Intuitionist,' takes place in an alternative… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
“All he felt now was envy. These people had expectations. Of the world, of the future, it didn't matter--expectation was such an innovative concept… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
Growing up as a product of the black civil-rights movement, I had a lot of different models for black weirdness, whether it's Richard Pryor… — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
Schools don't teach American history that well, especially a lot of black American history. — Colson Whitehead Copy Share
