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" I live in Brooklyn. I moved here 14 years ago for the cheap rent. It was a little embarrassing because I was raised in Manhattan, and so I was a bit of a snob about the other boroughs. "

Colson Whitehead

Rent

Years

Live

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" I'm of that subset of native New Yorkers who can't drive. "

" I'm just trying to keep things rich for me creatively and for the readers who follow me. "

" Usually, when I write a novel, it takes me about 100 pages to figure out the voice of the narrator. "

Colson Whitehead

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" I wanted to be one of these multidisciplinary critics who is doing music one day, TV the next, and books the next. "

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Day

" I'm not a representative of blackness, and I'm not a healer. "

" I always try to mix it up with each book - changing tone, changing style keeps the work very vital for me. "

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" Most of my books have always worked through juxtaposition, jumping through different point of views and time. "

" Some people don't like my fiction, because they prefer the nonfiction. But moving around keeps the work fresh for me and, hopefully, for my one or two readers who follow me from book to book! "

Colson Whitehead

Work

" If you go to a big publishing house, editorial aside, it's completely white. "

" 'Zone One' comes out of me trying to work through some of my ideas about why, for me personally, zombies are scary. "

Colson Whitehead

Trying

Why

" Stephen King in general, as well as films of the apocalypse from the '70s, had a big influence on 'Zone One.' "

" Some books are well-received with critics; other books sell. "

" I like to explore different ideas of race, how the concept of race has evolved in the country. It's one thing I enjoy talking about, but I don't feel compelled to talk about it. "

" A lot of my writer friends live near me, and that makes people think we just hang around with one another in cafes, trading work and discussing 'Harper's' and what not. But I rarely see them. We're home working. "

" I wrote a book of essays about New York called 'The Colossus of New York,' but it's not about - you know, when I'm writing about rush hour or Central Park, it's not a black Central Park, it's just Central Park, and it's not a black rush hour, it's just rush hour. "

" As always, a lot of bad books will be published. Some good books will be published, and you have to seek them out. "

" I've always had a love of cards, ever since I was a little kid. I think poker, as a system, describes the chaos of the world. Our sudden reversals, our freak streaks of fortune. The belief that the next hand can save you, and the inevitable failure of the next hand to save you. I think that describes my world view pretty well. "

" It's always hard to write and get your words out there, to find an editor, a publisher - readers! - who are going to appreciate them. "

" I am not sure the issue of race in America will ever be completely solved. "

" I do write about race a lot, but I don't think writers - of any shade or background or whatever - have to write about certain subjects. "

" You can't rush inspiration. "

" I'm always trying to switch voices and genres. "

" Write what you know. "

" Schools don't teach American history that well, especially a lot of black American history. "

" I envied kids who played soccer and football, but that was not my gig. "

" I have a good poker face because I am half-dead inside. "

" In '82 and '83, that was the rise of the VCR. Every Friday, my brother and I would go to Crazy Eddie's - which was a video store in Manhattan - and rent five horror movies. And that's basically what we did, basically, for three years. Becoming social misfits. "

" You can raze the old buildings and erect magnificent corporate towers, hose down Port Authority, but you can't change people. "

" Each book requires a different kind of treatment and structural gambit. "