How Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist Colson Whitehead Finds Inspiration for His Books

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead's latest novel The Nickel Boys, about an abusive Jim Crow-era reform school, joins a backlist of books that point to urgent questions about identity, class and history. Whitehead, who appears on TIME's cover this week, has found inspiration for his work in everything from his childhood summers in the Hamptons to zombie films.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead's latest novel The Nickel Boys, about an abusive Jim Crow-era reform school, joins a backlist of books that point to urgent questions about identity, class and history. Whitehead, who appears on TIME's cover this week, has found inspiration for his work in everything from his childhood summers in the Hamptons to zombie films.