Colson Whitehead Talks COOL MACHINE, His Harlem Trilogy Finale, and Next Novel

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead sat down with TODAY's Craig Melvin to discuss COOL MACHINE, the third book in his acclaimed Harlem crime trilogy. In the conversation, Whitehead opened up about how he approaches research for his crime fiction, joking that his process involves a lot of what he calls 'body-dumping thinking.'

COOL MACHINE is the third book in the Harlem crime trilogy. BroadwayWorld previously covered Whitehead's appearance at The Music Hall in 2023, where he discussed CROOK MANIFESTO, the second book in the series, describing the trilogy as a kaleidoscopic portrait of Harlem across different decades.

In the TODAY interview, Whitehead also shared what his day-to-day life looks like now and confirmed he is already at work on a new novel, though he offered no details about its subject matter.

Whitehead is a bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and the Harlem crime trilogy has cemented his reputation as one of the leading voices in American literary fiction. COOL MACHINE marks the third installment in a project that has spanned several years of research and writing.