Colson Whitehead To Discuss Pulitzer Prize-Winning Book

The Department of English and the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University will host a discussion and book signing with author Colson Whitehead about his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Underground Railroad,” on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 7 p.m. in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center. The event is free and open to the public and part of the 2019 Brazos Valley Reads initiative.

Published in 2016, the No. 1 New York Times bestseller tells the fictional story of main characters Cora and Caesar who use the underground railroad to escape slavery in America in the 1800s. The railroad is a secret network of tracks and tunnels that takes the characters on a harrowing journey across the country in their search for freedom.

Along with winning the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, “The Underground Railroad” also earned the 2016 National Book Award for fiction, the 2017 Arthur C. Clark Award and the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in fiction, among other awards.

Bringing Whitehead to College Station is a collaborative effort between Texas A&M and the Brazos Valley community.

Other Texas A&M sponsors include the departments of communication, history and international studies; the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research; the office of Robin R. Means Coleman, vice president and associate provost of diversity; the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives; the interdisciplinary critical studies program; and LAUNCH: Learning Communities, Academic Excellence, Undergraduate Research, National Fellowships, Capstones and Honors.

Brazos Valley sponsors include Blinn College; the Eagle newspaper; the Brazos Valley African American Museum; the Bryan-College Station Public Libraries; and Barnes and Nobles Bookstores.