'Writer's block is a problem I haven't solved yet.' | Writer Colson Whitehead | Louisiana Channel

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“Some people suffer from writer’s block, for me, it is a problem I haven’t solved yet”. The award-winning American writer here shares his advice on how to go about when you are stuck in front of the blank page.


Colson Whitehead who is a widely celebrated novelist knows how to proceed when he can’t move on writing:

“I might not know how a character walks or talks but I keep going on other parts of the book and figure out later, a week or two weeks or three months later. I always know that if I start a book and gets stuck, I need to do something else for a while."

Colson Whitehead also shares his advice to young writers:

“Read the books you have an affinity for to find out what kind of writer you want to be and then write to find out what kind of writer you actually are.”



Colson Whitehead (b. 1969) is an award-winning American novelist. He is the author of several novels, including his debut ‘The Intuitionist’ (1999) and ‘The Underground Railroad’ (2016), for which he won the prestigious 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 2019 came ‘The Nickel Boys’ and ‘Harlem Shuffle’ in 2021. He has also written the non-fiction book ‘The Colossus of New York’ (2003). Whitehead is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2002) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2013). He lives and works in New York City.


Colson Whitehead was interviewed by Tonny Vorm in August 2017 in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.

Camera: Klaus Elmer
Edited and produced by: Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2018


Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond, Ny Carlsbergfondet and C.L. Davids Fond og Samling

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*Watch more writers share their experience facing the blank page right here:*

[ifheavenwashuman]

It’s essential to analyze what may’ve created the block itself, rather than trying to find out ways to remove yourself from the block. W/ that being said, I believe that block is just as involved in the creative process as writing/creating itself is. Both deserve appreciation, as well.