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Colson Whitehead's 'Sag Harbor'

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Colson Whitehead has been a blazing young star on the literary scene. Black, urbane, gifted, showered with honors: from “The Intuitionist” and “John Henry Days” to “The Colossus of New York” he’s made glittering waves.

His new novel, “Sag Harbor,” is the opposite of blazing. It’s about boys and warm, lazy days summering and coming of age on Long Island in the 1980’s.

But it’s not the stereotype. It’s black boys with beach houses, he writes. Sons of well-set parents. Scooping ice cream. Kicking back. Coming to terms with life and race.

This hour, On Point: Colson Whitehead and “Sag Harbor.”

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Guest:

Colson Whitehead joins us from New York  His new novel is "Sag Harbor." He's the author of five previous novels, including "The Intuitionist," "John Henry Days," "The Colossus of New York," and "Apex Hides the Hurt."  He's the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award and a MacArthur Fellowship.

You can read an excerpt from "Sag Harbor" at RandomHouse.com.

More links:

Whitehead created this annotated map of Main Street Sag Harbor for The Wall Street Journal.

This program aired on May 12, 2009.

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