Colson Whitehead is the youngest writer to win the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.
It’s been quite a year for Colson Whitehead! First, he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (again) and then he received the Orwell Prize for political fiction. And now the Library of Congress is honoring him with their lifetime achievement prize. (Previous recipients include Toni Morrison, Denis Johnson, Don DeLillo, Marilynne Robinson, and Philip Roth, among others.)
In his statement, Colson Whitehead, who at 50 is the youngest writer to receive the award, said:
“I hope that right now there’s a young kid who looks like me, who sees the Library of Congress recognize Black artists and feels encouraged to pursue their own vision and find their own sacred spaces of inspiration.”
[via USA Today]
Further Reading:
An excerpt from The Underground Railroad
