Unbound: A Book Launch Series | Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad

“This book has kept me up at night, had my heart in my throat, almost afraid to turn the next page”
—Oprah Winfrey
“He has told a story essential to our understanding of the American past and the American present”
—The New York Times

In The Underground Railroad—a selection for Oprah’s Book Club 2016—author Colson Whitehead chronicles a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. While interweaving the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day, The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a powerful meditation on the history we all share. Whitehead will discuss the book and its relevance to the current social and political climate with Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation.

Colson Whitehead is the New York Times bestselling author of The Noble Hustle, Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and the collection of essays The Colossus of New York. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and a recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City.

Lisa Lucas is the executive director of the National Book Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, she served as the publisher of Guernica, a non-profit online magazine focusing on writing that explores the intersection of art and politics with an international and diverse focus. Before that Lucas served as director of education at the Tribeca Film Institute, on the development team at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and as a consultant for the Sundance Institute, San Francisco Film Society, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and ReelWorks Teen Filmmaking. Lucas also serves on the literary council of the Brooklyn Book Festival.

BAM Rose Cinema











When: Mon., Sep. 26, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Where: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
30 Lafayette Ave.
718-636-4100
Price: $25 (ticket only); $45 (includes book)
Buy tickets/get more info now
See other events in these categories:
“This book has kept me up at night, had my heart in my throat, almost afraid to turn the next page”
—Oprah Winfrey
“He has told a story essential to our understanding of the American past and the American present”
—The New York Times

In The Underground Railroad—a selection for Oprah’s Book Club 2016—author Colson Whitehead chronicles a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. While interweaving the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day, The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a powerful meditation on the history we all share. Whitehead will discuss the book and its relevance to the current social and political climate with Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation.

Colson Whitehead is the New York Times bestselling author of The Noble Hustle, Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and the collection of essays The Colossus of New York. A Pulitzer Prize finalist and a recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City.

Lisa Lucas is the executive director of the National Book Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, she served as the publisher of Guernica, a non-profit online magazine focusing on writing that explores the intersection of art and politics with an international and diverse focus. Before that Lucas served as director of education at the Tribeca Film Institute, on the development team at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and as a consultant for the Sundance Institute, San Francisco Film Society, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and ReelWorks Teen Filmmaking. Lucas also serves on the literary council of the Brooklyn Book Festival.

BAM Rose Cinema

Buy tickets/get more info now