Book Review - Colson Whitehead isn’t giving interviews right now

The MacArthur Genius novelist reads Feb. 21 at GSU

When novelist Colson Whitehead reads from his work at Georgia State University next week, he won’t be on the usual book tour. Not that Whitehead needs any excuse to give a reading: the MacArthur Genius is among his generation’s finest writers. Whitehead’s last novel, 2011’s Zone One, took on the zombie genre and elevated it to literary heights, not unlike the way his first novel in 1999, The Intuitionist, took a post-modern approach to the detective novel. Colson’s ability to find the intersection between pop culture and high art has come to define his career.

So, will Whitehead be reading from his next novel at GSU? Hard to say. He’s on deadline and not doing interviews right now. Like a growing number of contemporary novelists, the closest insight to his next work in progress might come from his Twitter feed. Whitehead recently explained his interest in Twitter to Publisher’s Weekly, “I had a cat, the cat died, and now the stuff I used to say to the cat all day, I tweet.”

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colson whitehead twitter

Storified byWyatt Williams·Fri, Feb 08 2013 10:45:54

Agent: Colson’s newest draft! opensbox But this is just a bunch of dead crickets taped to his authorphoto & DIY Twinkie instructions...?colsonwhitehead

Cold day. Inevitable speculation about visiblefarts.colson whitehead

“I have one! What has a bed butdoesn’t sleep, and a bank but no money?” “Me?” “Ariver! Why did you say you, Daddy?” “No reason.”colsonwhitehead

Have to stop trying to cheer up the kid with,”Everybody falls into a K-hole sometimes.”colsonwhitehead

I just did a Vine of me reading my new book aloud& had 1 second left over.colson whitehead

“I’m notsaying I’m not lonely. I’m asking if I ‘come off lonely’ ontwitter.”colson whitehead

“No! Don’t you die onme! I am not leaving you behind! Breathe!” - some shit I justsaid to my fucking umbrella.colson whitehead

Everybody’sshaving Brussel Sprouts these days. What happened to 70s-style,let-it-all-hang-out, unshaved Brussel Sprouts?colsonwhitehead

Love the tweet, hate the tweeter.colsonwhitehead