THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2026 | 7:30–9 PM: Inprint, Houston’s premier literary arts nonprofit organization, presents Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead as part of the 2026/2027 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series. Whitehead will read from his new novel Cool Machine, followed by an on-stage conversation with a local author/journalist. General admission tickets, available starting October 13, are $35 and include a copy of Whitehead’s Cool Machine. Books will be on sale at a discount at the event through Kindred Stories.

Whitehead is the first writer to win the Pulitzer for consecutive books: the historical novels The Underground Railroad (2016) and The Nickel Boys (2019). The Underground Railroad also won the National Book Award and was named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review. Known for innovative novels that explore social themes, while often incorporating fantastical elements, he is also the author of The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, and Sag Harbor, as well as The Colossus of New York, a book of essays about the city, and The Noble Hustle, a nonfiction account about the 2011 World Series of Poker. Among his honors, Whitehead has received MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, a Whiting Writers Award, the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and the National Humanities Medal. From 2018-2020, he served as the New York State Author.