novelist
Novelist and 2002 MacArthur fellow
PROFILE
Colson Whitehead
Guest
FROM Colson Whitehead
Bookworm
Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead's new great American novel depicts a real underground railroad that transports a fugitive slave to stops that defy time and history, highlighting the daily struggles of black people, past and present.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
National Book Award winner talks race in America Colson Whitehead took home the prestigious National Book Award for fiction last night. He won it for his novel ‘The Underground Railroad,’ which follows a teenage slave named Cora to a hard-won freedom. She begins on a Georgia plantation, and then escapes via an actual underground railroad. Madeleine Brand spoke with Whitehead about his book earlier this year.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Colson Whitehead on his imagined real 'Underground Railroad' The Presidential candidates were asked during Monday’s debate about race relations in this nation – specifically, how each candidate would heal the racial divide. But to heal it, you first have to acknowledge what caused it. Namely, slavery. That’s the subject of Colson Whitehead’s new novel, titled “The Underground Railroad.” It follows a teenage slave named Cora to a hard-won freedom from a plantation in Georgia, through and escape via an literal underground railroad. Whitehead spoke to Press Play about that little bit of magical realism.
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The Business
In 'Speechless,' Scott Silveri combines comedy, family & disability Scott Silveri has written and produced sitcoms for more than 20 years. In all that time, he never encountered a TV family that looked anything like the one he grew up in -- with a mom, a dad...and a brother with cerebral palsy. He changed that with his show Speechless on ABC. Silveri tells us about looking to his own past for stories, and why he was determined to make a family comedy and not just a "disability show."
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why did Jared Kushner want a back channel with Russians? News broke Friday that President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, tried setting up a back channel between the Trump transition team and the Russian government. What are the consequences for Kushner, President Trump, and the investigation into Russian meddling?