Colson Whitehead Will Visit Montclair For Book Event

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Montclair Public Library. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

On Saturday, Sept. 23 at 4 p.m., the Montclair Public Library and Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival will welcome two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead to discuss the latest installment of his Harlem saga, “Crook Manifesto,” with Kate Tuttle, books editor of People magazine. The program will take place at First Congregational Church of Montclair at 40 South Fullerton Avenue.

Tickets cost $35 and include a pre-signed copy of the book. Ticketholders may pick up books with pre-signed bookplates at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair after the publication date on July 20. Register now at https://bit.ly/ColsonSept23.

Colson Whitehead and Kate Tuttle’s conversation is part of Open Book / Open Mind, our popular, long-running literary conversation series. After the discussion, audience members will participate in a live Q&A session with the author.

Colson Whitehead is the author of seven other novels, including "The Underground Railroad" and "The Nickel Boys," both of which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His most recent novel, "Harlem Shuffle," was a longtime New York Times bestseller. Whitehead received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002, and in 2019 he was named “America’s Storyteller” by Time magazine. He is a graduate of Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and New York universities. He lives in New York City.

"We are so excited to welcome Colson Whitehead to Open Book/Open Mind," said Montclair Public Library Director Janet Torsney. "We just can't wait to read his latest book and hear him talk about it with his distinctive blend of erudition, craft and wit."

Marcia Marley, the Chair of Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival agreed: “The Montclair Literary Festival is thrilled to welcome one of America’s greatest authors, Colson Whitehead, to Montclair for the second in his Harlem trilogy, Crook Manifesto. His range of genres, ability to create unforgettable characters, and beautiful prose is extraordinary.”

"[In “Crook Manifesto”], two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Whitehead continues his boisterous, incisive saga of late-20th-century Harlem and of a furniture dealer barely keeping his criminal side at bay...The adventures of entrepreneur, family man, and sometime fence Ray Carney, which began with Harlem Shuffle (2021), are carried from the Black Citadel's harried-but-hopeful 1960s of that book to the dismal-and-divided '70s shown here….It is not just crime fiction at its craftiest, but shrewdly rendered social history.”—Kirkus Reviews

Kate Tuttle is an executive editor at People magazine, covering books. A past president of the National Book Critics Circle, she formerly edited the books pages at the Boston Globe. Her reviews and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and elsewhere. Tuttle serves as the co-chair of Open Book / Open Mind’s advisory committee.

The Open Book / Open Mind series is presented by the Montclair Public Library with the generous support of The Montclair Public Library Foundation, Watchung Booksellers, Josh Weston, Rosemary Iversen, an anonymous donor, The First Congregational Church, Amanti Vino and The George Montclair.

Open Book / Open Mind’s fall season will also offer programs with Lisa Belkin (Genealogy of a Murder), Rachel Swarns (“The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church”) and Adam Nagourney (“The Times”). Earlier this year, the series has presented such distinguished authors as Michelle Zauner ("Crying in H Mart"), Kate Zernike (“The Exceptions”), Robert Pinsky (“Jersey Breaks”), Lenny Kaye (“Lightning Striking”) and Touluse Olorunnipa, who won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction for co-authoring “His Name is George Floyd.”

Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival, the premier literary festival in New Jersey, brings communities together in an exchange of ideas from diverse viewpoints through thought-provoking book talks and author panels. The festival fosters lasting connections between arts institutions, the schools and the communities themselves. Since its inception, the festival has presented numerous acclaimed authors including Elizabeth Alexander, Jennifer Egan, Don Winslow, Jon Meacham, Trevor Noah, Patti Smith, Malcolm Gladwell, Isabel Allende, Hugh Bonneville, Douglas Stuart, Jane Fonda, Paul Krugman, Erik Larson, Colm Tóibín, Alan Cumming, Min Jin Lee, Chelsea Clinton, Salman Rushdie, and Paul Auster.

The literary festival supports Succeed2gether, which provides free one-on-one after-school tutoring to students in grades K-12, four days a week in math, language arts, social studies and science.

Founded in 1893, the Montclair Public Library serves the residents of Montclair, New Jersey. It has two facilities: the Main Library at 50 South Fullerton Avenue and the Bellevue Avenue Branch Library at 185 Bellevue Avenue. The Library has been changing lives every day for over 125 years through words, ideas, and community building by providing unlimited opportunities for lifelong learning, discovery, and community engagement.

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