--- 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' title: Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc86621833d3d39b1/6988a09fbc6cfc02913de13b/john-franzen-novelist.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [novels](/tag/novels/) ## novels Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why Jonathan Franzen Won't Write About Race by [Kate Samuelson](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 1, 2016 4:48 PM CUT  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](/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 1, 2016 4:48 PM CUT Author [Jonathan Franzen](http://time.com/4338360/jonathan-franzen-jeopardy/ "undefined") 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/ "undefined"), 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 "undefined"): “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/ "undefined") after publicly stating that she picked some “schmaltzy” and “one dimensional” novels for her book club. \[[_Slate_](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/interrogation/2016/07/a%5Fconversation%5Fwith%5Fnovelist%5Fjonathan%5Ffranzen.html?wpsrc=sh%5Fall%5Fmob%5Ftw%5Ftop "undefined")\] ```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"}}]}] ```