Lifestyle

Author’s unusual work space mirrors his writing

Name: Colson Whitehead

Job: Acclaimed writer known for his ability to defy categorization. His work ranges from a coming-of-age story (“Sag Harbor”) to a post-apocalyptic zombie tale (“Zone One”) to his most recent, “The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death,” a nonfiction book based on playing in the 2011 World Series of Poker. He’s accumulated a closetful of accolades, including a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Ensconced in the downstairs office of his West Village apartment, Whitehead, 44, is self-deprecating about his writing range. “I used to be sick of what I just finished, so I’d want to do something different,” he says.

Within the last two years, the longtime Brooklynite welcomed a son and moved to the Village.

Whitehead likes working at home, making coffee, listening to Daft Punk, Prince and the Clash — and occasionally napping on his green couch. For company he swaps non sequiturs with his 150,000 Twitter followers.

Whitehead treasures his book collection.Christian Johnston
One of Whitehead’s favorite things in his office is this old sign – which he said gives him inspiration.Christian Johnston

Work style: Unlike his friend Jonathan Lethem, who works while walking on a treadmill, Whitehead hunkers down at a desk while he knocks out the books. To get ready for the Vegas tournament he prepped at the poker table for six weeks, which involved dropping his daughter at school, then hopping a bus to Atlantic City.

Desk: His desk, a Restoration Hardware piece, is made of rustic brown wood and metal legs with rollers. His chair’s an Aeron: “I got it with my first big paycheck in 2000.”

Routine: Typically he’s up at 7 a.m. to make coffee, followed by a check of his e-mail. He settles in around 10:30 and works for four hours: “They’re when I’m most lively. I start the day with work before the world intrudes.”

After that he eats lunch (typically leftovers from the night before), logs another hour, then picks up his kids from school. If he’s working on a book he aims for eight pages weekly. He alternates writing with teaching — currently at Princeton.

Décor: His “prize-writing totem” is a sign he’s owned for 15 years. It says “Grinding & Sharpening: saws, knives, scissors, skates.”

“I can picture it being hung up on Orchard Street,” he says. “Whoever ran the establishment had his craft. Now, 100 years later, I’m bent over trying to work a sentence into something sharper.”

He keeps a photo of Richard Pryor circa 1968 propped up against a wall. “Growing up we [Whitehead, his parents and his younger brother] would watch HBO Richard Pryor-George Carlin specials. They were very influential to me — the way they’d veer from a monologue that’s funny, [to] tragic, then humorous again.”

Bookshelf: The writer’s books span a shelf across the back wall. He turns to the works of authors he admires for inspiration: David Mitchell (“Cloud Atlas”), Claire Vaye Watkins (“Battleborn”). “I moved so many times. Some things I haven’t seen for 20 years — like Gabriel García Márquez’ work — got unearthed. ‘The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film’ was like my bible in high school before the Internet and IMDb.”

Whitehead enjoys the occasional nap on his green couch.Whitehead

Detritus: A red filing cabinet from Ikea is also a relic, at 15 years old — “[The cabinet] stores floppy discs,” he says. “Once I get something, I keep it.”

Caffeine and nourishment: Whitehead drinks two cups of coffee a day, both in the morning. “It used to be a lot more, but when I quit smoking I couldn’t guzzle as many pots as I used to.”

TV habit: One of Whitehead’s first jobs after graduating from Harvard in 1991 was serving as a TV critic at the Village Voice.

“Back then a TV columnist was the lowest form of criticism. I was a professional TV watcher. Being an amateur now is really nice. I watch ‘The Americans,’ ‘Game of Thrones.’ I also watch reality cooking shows. A network could come up with the dumbest food show — ‘Dueling with Celery Sticks’ — and I’d watch it.”