colson whitehead is its only member. he won last year for his novel, "the nickel boys," about the jim crow south. in 2017, he won for "the underground railroad." through historical fiction, he has illuminated the past to tell us something about our present. but, his work does not stay in one place. as we first reported in february, he has written about elevator inspectors, zombie hunters, and the world series of poker. his next book is a heist novel. on of the other four members of the double-pulitzer club, john updike, said of whitehead's style, "his writing does what writing should do. it refreshes our sense of the world." can i ask you about your first lines? "even in death, the boys were in trouble." "the first time caesar approached cora about running north, she said, 'no'." "it's a new elevator, freshly pressed to the rails, and it's not built to fall this fast." "i have a good poker face because i'm half-dead inside." those first lines, they're all crackling. tell me about the process of the first line. >> colson

i mean, if you keep your eyes and your ears open, you can steal from anybody >> seth: colson whitehead -- >> what are you, seth? [ laughter ] >> colson has been on our show and, you know, obviously is brilliant and i know from barry he visited set what's it like when someone, you know, who creates the source material comes on while you're doing the adaptation >> when colson came on set, it was -- for me, it felt like the ceo had entered the building there was an incredible amount of respect, appreciation for what he'd created that allowed us all, hundreds of people, to be there and a desire to want him to feel good about everything. like, the sets, the costume, and particularly for me, i'm like, do i fill the shoes of the character that you created in your own private space so it felt like, you know, it felt like a good cool ceo had entered the building >> seth: all right, now i need to ask you this just because i know you're back in australia. how long has it been since you were at the beach? >> two days. >> seth: okay. >> yeah, no, like, i go for a swim or a surf most days, but i hav

he's a -- i i love colson whitehead because he tells, he loves words and he knows how to tell complex and jarring story and really just different ways. i'm going to put his lasting but -- the author of the windup bird chronicle 30 does is pentasa go magical storytelling that also grounded in the deepest and most thoughtful questions of history. that's like a range of the readers, the writers i love to read. right now i'm reading black sun by rebecca and i'm reading the coldest winter by david. that gives you a few of the readers come to other writers i like. but i love writers who like people, like to tell stories about them, tell stories to them, and you respect the people who are reading their work. the most annoying writers today are the ones who are so arrogant that they write the story purely for themselves. as a writer you need to love what you do but if you are writing to alienate your audience because they are just not smart enough or clever enough to be a reader of your work, then mauls tough, all find somebody else to read. >> thank you so much for spending this hour with us