--- title: Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race description: Author Jonathan Franzen says race is unlikely to be a theme of any of his future novels due to his lack of 'firsthand experience' canonical: https://time.com/4433286/jonathan-franzen-write-race/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-01T16:48:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:58:23.641Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race og:description: The renowned author says he does not 'have very many black friends' og:url: https://time.com/4433286/jonathan-franzen-write-race/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc86621833d3d39b1/6988a09fbc6cfc02913de13b/john-franzen-novelist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: American novelist, Jonathan Franzen. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race twitter:description: The renowned author says he does not 'have very many black friends' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc86621833d3d39b1/6988a09fbc6cfc02913de13b/john-franzen-novelist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Aug 1, 2016 4:48 PM UTC  American novelist, Jonathan Franzen, discusses his latest book, Purity in Toronto on Oct. 11, 2015. American novelist, Jonathan Franzen, discusses his latest book, Purity in Toronto on Oct. 11, 2015. Melissa Renwick—Toronto Star/Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Aug 1, 2016 4:48 PM UTC Author [Jonathan Franzen](http://time.com/4338360/jonathan-franzen-jeopardy/) says race is unlikely to be a theme of any of his future novels due to his lack of “firsthand experience”. The renowned writer, whose fifth novel, [_Purity_](http://time.com/3912224/jonathan-franzen-republic-of-bad-taste-purity-novel-excerpt/), was released in late 2015, said that he hasn’t yet penned a book about race as he doesn’t “have very many black friends” and has “never been in love with a black woman” – which he admitted was an “embarrassing confession.” He told [Slate](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/interrogation/2016/07/a%5Fconversation%5Fwith%5Fnovelist%5Fjonathan%5Ffranzen.html?wpsrc=sh%5Fall%5Fmob%5Ftw%5Ftop): “I write about characters, and I have to love the character to write about the character. “If you have not had direct firsthand experience of loving a category of person – a person of a different race, a profoundly religious person, things that are real stark differences between people – I think it is very hard to dare, or necessarily even want, to write fully from the inside of a person.” The 56-year-old is no stranger to controversy. In 2001 he was [uninvited to appear on Oprah Winfrey’s show](http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/09/16/franzoprah-feud-ends-freedom-is-next-book-club-pick/) after publicly stating that she picked some “schmaltzy” and “one dimensional” novels for her book club. \[[_Slate_](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/interrogation/2016/07/a%5Fconversation%5Fwith%5Fnovelist%5Fjonathan%5Ffranzen.html?wpsrc=sh%5Fall%5Fmob%5Ftw%5Ftop)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4433286/jonathan-franzen-write-race/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4433286/jonathan-franzen-write-race/"},"headline":"Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race","datePublished":"2016-08-01T16:48:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:58:23.641Z","description":"\"I don’t have very many black friends\"","url":"https://time.com/4433286/jonathan-franzen-write-race/","keywords":["novels"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc86621833d3d39b1/6988a09fbc6cfc02913de13b/john-franzen-novelist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc86621833d3d39b1/6988a09fbc6cfc02913de13b/john-franzen-novelist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American novelist, Jonathan Franzen.","caption":"American novelist, Jonathan Franzen, discusses his latest book, Purity in Toronto on Oct. 11, 2015.","creditText":"Melissa Renwick—Toronto Star/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/novels/","name":"novels"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4433286/jonathan-franzen-write-race/","name":"Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race"}}]}] ```