Pulitzer prize winning novels

DAVE DAVIES, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Dave Davies. In , Colson Whitehead landed on the cover of Time magazine next to a caption that called him America's storyteller.

He's earned that honor over the course of nine novels that have ranged from wry, speculative fiction to zombie apocalypse to sobering historical fiction - all of them, in various ways, considering the topic of race in America.

His novel, "The Underground Railroad," was adapted into an Amazon TV series directed by Barry Jenkins, who directed "Moonlight" and "If Beale Street Could Talk."

Whitehead's novel, "The Nickel Boys," has been adapted into a film of the same name now in theaters.

It's based on the true story of the now-closed Dozier School for Boys in Florida, where former students have reported being brutally beaten or sexually abused. The central character of Whitehead's book is Elwood, a hardworking, college-bo