Thomas Chatterton Williams | |
|---|---|
 Williams in 2020 | |
| Born | March 26, 1981 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Critic, author |
| Alma mater |
Georgetown University New York University |
| Subject | Race, identity |
| Years active | 2007–present [1] |
| Notable works | Losing My Cool (2010) Self-Portrait in Black and White (2019) |
| Notable awards | Berlin Prize Guggenheim Fellow |
| Spouse | Valentine Faure [2] |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | |
|
thomaschattertonwilliams | |
Thomas Chatterton Williams (born March 26, 1981) [3] is an American cultural critic and writer. [1] He is the author of the 2019 book Self-Portrait in Black and White and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He is a visiting professor of the humanities and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, and a 2022 Guggenheim fellow. Formerly, Williams was a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and an Easy Chair columnist for Harper's Magazine.
Early life and education
Thomas Chatterton Williams was born on March 26, 1981, [3] in Newark, New Jersey, [4] to a black father, Clarence Williams, and a white mother, Kathleen. [2] [5] Named after the English poet Thomas Chatterton, he was raised in Fanwood, New Jersey, [5] and attended Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains. [6] Williams graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. He also completed a master's degree from New York University's Cultural Reporting and Criticism program. [1]
Career
In 2010, Williams released his first book, Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture. [7] The book is a coming-of-age memoir, mirroring Williams's childhood and adolescence in New Jersey to his father's experience in the segregated South. [8]
Williams's second book, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race, was released on October 15, 2019. [9] [10] [11] He became a 2019 New America Fellow [12] and a Berlin Prize [13] recipient.
In 2020, Williams wrote the initial draft of " A Letter on Justice and Open Debate", an open letter in Harper's Magazine signed by 152 public figures. It criticized what the letter argued was a culture of "intolerance of opposing views". [14]
Williams is now a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a visiting professor of the humanities and senior fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College. He was formerly a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine [15] and Harper's Magazine. [16]
Personal life
Williams married French journalist and author Valentine Faure in France in 2011. [2] He lives in Paris with Faure and their two children. [17]
Bibliography
- Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race. W. W. Norton & Company. 2019. ISBN 978-0-393-60886-1.
- Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture. The Penguin Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-59420-263-6.
References
- ^ a b c Thomas Chatterton Williams, Penguin Random House author page. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ a b c Williams, Thomas Chatterton (September 22, 2019). "Shades of Meaning". The New York Times Magazine. pp. 46–51, 56–57.
- ^ a b Boëton, Marie (August 24, 2021). "Thomas Chatterton Williams : "je reconnais l'existence du racisme, pas celle des races"". La Croix (in French). Retrieved May 24, 2022.
- ^ Martin, Michel (June 15, 2010). "Father-Son Bond Inspires Memoir Of Love And Reflection". Tell Me More. NPR. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ a b Walsh, Jeremy (August 19, 2010). "Fanwood author finds father's voice leads him out of trouble". The Star-Ledger. NJ.com. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ Thomas Chatterton Williams (October 15, 2019). Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race. W. W. Norton. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-393-60887-8.
- ^ McKelvey, Tara (August 6, 2010). "Nonfiction Chronicle". The New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
- ^ "Stepping Away From Race: A Conversation With Thomas Chatterton Williams". Are We Europe. February 7, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
- ^ "Self-Portrait in Black and White". W. W. Norton & Company. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- ^ Sewell, Summer (October 15, 2019). "Is it time to unlearn race? Thomas Chatterton Williams says yes". The Guardian. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- ^ Friedersdorf, Conor (November 5, 2019). "Unraveling Race". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- ^ "Thomas Chatterton Williams". New America. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ "Announcing the 2017–18 Class of Berlin Prize Fellows". American Academy in Berlin. May 10, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
- ^ Schuessler, Jennifer; Harris, Elizabeth A. (August 10, 2020). "Artists and Writers Warn of an 'Intolerant Climate.' Reaction Is Swift". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
- ^ Solomon, Andrew (October 14, 2019). "How Moving to France and Having Children Led a Black American to Rethink Race". The New York Times Book Review. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
- ^ Beha, Christopher (September 10, 2020). "The Letter and Its Discontents". Harper's Magazine. John R. MacArthur. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ Williams, Thomas Chatterton (September 17, 2019). "My Family's Life Inside and Outside America's Racial Categories". The New York Times. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1981 births
- Living people
- 20th-century African-American people
- 21st-century African-American people
- African-American journalists
- African-American non-fiction writers
- American expatriates in France
- American literary critics
- American male journalists
- Berlin Prize recipients
- Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni
- New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science alumni
- People from Fanwood, New Jersey
- Union Catholic Regional High School alumni
- Writers from Newark, New Jersey
- Writers from Paris