Colson Whitehead

to receive 2026 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award

Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Colson Whitehead is visiting Tulsa on Dec. 3 and 4 to receive the 2026 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, given by the Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Library Trust.

On Thursday, Dec. 3 at 5:30 p.m., Whitehead will give a free public presentation at Rudisill Regional Library, 1017 N. Greenwood Ave., and then will meet readers and sign books, which will be available for purchase courtesy of Magic City Books. On Friday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m., Whitehead will receive the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, which consists of a $40,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book, at a ticketed black-tie gala at Central Library located at Fifth Street and Denver Avenue. Ticket sales will begin in October.

Pulitzer Prize Winner Colson Whitehead

Whitehead is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which he received for The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, making him the fourth author to win two Pulitzer Prizes in the fiction category. The Underground Railroad also won the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was a New York Times bestseller. The Nickel Boys also won The Kirkus Prize for Fiction, and the film adaptation was nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 97th Academy Awards.

Following his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, Whitehead published the Harlem Trilogy, which includes Harlem Shuffle (2021), Crook Manifesto (2024) and Cool Machine (2026). Other fiction titles by Whitehead include The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, Sag Harbor and Zone One. His nonfiction works include The Colossus of New York and The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death.

More About Colson Whitehead

Born in New York City, Whitehead began his writing career at The Village Voice following his graduation from Harvard University in 1991. His essays, reviews and nonfiction works have appeared in publications that include The New Yorker, The New York Times and more. Whitehead has received numerous honors throughout his career, including the 2012 Dos Passos Prize, 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, 2021 National Humanities Medal and the 2024 Langston Hughes Medal.

For more information about the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, visit tulsalibrary.org/helmerichaward or call 918-549-7323.