Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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“The book that I didn’t know I could do was the one I should be doing.” In this Penguin Random House video, author Colson Whitehead talks about the origins of his award-winning novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, and continuing the stories of his character Ray Carney through his two latest novels, Harlem Shuffle and Crook Manifesto.
Tags: Fiction | Colson Whitehead | Penguin Random House | Doubleday | novel | The Underground Railroad | The Nickel Boys | Harlem Shuffle | Crook Manifesto | 2023 -
“It’s not all fun, you know, the usual terror of writing a book.” In this Waterstones interview, Colson Whitehead talks about his new novel, Harlem Shuffle (Doubleday, 2021), and how he gave himself permission to write a heist story. The novel is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Fiction | Colson Whitehead | Harlem Shuffle | Doubleday | 2021 | Waterstones | Page One | September/October 2021 -
A new trailer for the limited Amazon series The Underground Railroad, a television adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning historical fiction novel of the same name, has been released by director Barry Jenkins. The reverse-motion trailer features music composed by Nicholas Britell.
Tags: Fiction | The Underground Railroad | trailer | television adaptation | Colson Whitehead | novel | Barry Jenkins | Amazon | 2021 -
Director Barry Jenkins has released a teaser trailer for the upcoming television adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning historical fiction novel, The Underground Railroad (Doubleday, 2016). The limited Amazon series stars Thuso Mbedu as Cora, a woman who escapes a plantation in Georgia and finds the Underground Railroad, an actual train system transporting runaways to the north.
Tags: Fiction | The Underground Railroad | Colson Whitehead | television adaptation | trailer | Amazon | Barry Jenkins | 2020 -
“The Nickel Academy becomes a proving ground for people’s goodness, for their tendency towards evil, and it proves character,” says Colson Whitehead about his latest novel, The Nickel Boys (Doubleday, 2019), in this video for the Get Lit virtual book club series with host of WNYC’s All Of It Alison Stewart.
Tags: Fiction | Colson Whitehead | The Nickel Boys | Doubleday | 2019 | WNYC | book club | 2020 | interview -
“You pick the right tool for the job, and sometimes fantasy is a way to open up a story and convey a universal truth, and sometimes realism.” Colson Whitehead speaks with PBS NewsHour’s Jeffrey Brown about his writing process and the true story that inspired his latest novel, The Nickel Boys, which was published this week by Doubleday.
Tags: Fiction | Colson Whitehead | The Nickel Boys | Doubleday | 2019 | Page One | July/August 2019 | PBS NewsHour | interview | writing process -
“Rule No. 10: Revise, revise, revise. I cannot stress this enough. Revision is when you do what you should have done the first time, but didn’t.” Colson Whitehead, whose seventh novel, The Nickel Boys (Doubleday, 2019), is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, reads his 2012 New York Times piece “How to Write” at the Muldoon’s Picnic variety show in New York City in 2015.
Tags: Fiction | Colson Whitehead | Page One | July/August 2019 | reading | How to Write | Muldoon's Picnic | New York Times Book Review | 2015 | 2012 -
“Then, before you’re gone, you know that all that’s ever been will still be, even if there are no tomorrows.” Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, a 2018 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree nominated by Colson Whitehead, reads the last page of his story “Through the Flash” from his debut story collection, Friday Black (Mariner Books, 2018).
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“I became a writer once I realized no one liked my stuff. I just had no choice but to keep going and start a new novel.” In an interview for Louisiana Channel, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Colson Whitehead talks about how rejections of his first manuscript pushed him forward to pursue writing and why he enjoys exploring different genres.
Tags: Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Colson Whitehead | Pulitzer Prize | Louisiana Channel | interview | The Intuitionist | Random House | 1999 -
Colson Whitehead, whose new novel, The Underground Railroad (Doubleday, 2016), is featured in Page One of the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, speaks with Oprah Winfrey about the inspiration behind the book.
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"I have a good poker face because I'm half dead inside." Colson Whitehead reads excerpts from his new book, The Noble Hustle, chronicling his experience preparing for, and then competing in, the World Series of Poker. Read Kevin Nance's interview with Whitehead—on how he met his agent Nicole Aragi—in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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The folks at Random House and its many imprints, including Knopf, Doubleday, Crown, and Vintage Books, have a little fun promoting Colson Whitehead's latest book, Zone One, a literary zombie novel published last week by Doubleday.
Tags: Doubleday | 2011 | book trailer | Colson Whitehead | Zone One | Fiction