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Percival Leonard Everett II

パーシヴァル・エヴェレット

Percival Everett

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1956-12-22 （Fort Gordon, Georgia, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. → Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Short story writer, Poet, Professor
Active Years
1983-2025
Affiliations
University of Southern California (faculty)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Letters
Influenced By
Richard Wright, Sapphire, Mark Twain
Influenced

Education

University of Miami
Undergraduate (Philosophy) / Philosophy
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Studied a broad variety of topics including biochemistry and mathematical logic
Brown University
Graduate (Fiction) / Fiction
Degree: MA
Year of Graduation: 1982
Country: United States
Wrote his first novel while completing his M.A.

Awards

Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Fiction)
2002
Work: Erasure
Category: Fiction
Organization: Hurston/Wright Foundation
Result: Winner
Arts and Letters Award in Literature
2003
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: Winner
PEN Center USA Award (Fiction)
2006
Work: Wounded
Category: Fiction
Organization: PEN Center USA
Result: Winner
Dos Passos Prize
2010
Organization: Dos Passos Prize committee
Result: Winner
Windham-Campbell Prize (Fiction)
2023
Category: Fiction
Organization: Windham-Campbell Prizes
Result: Winner
PEN/Jean Stein Book Award
2023
Work: Dr. No
Category: Fiction
Organization: PEN America
Result: Winner
Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize (Comic Fiction)
2022
Work: The Trees
Category: Comic Fiction
Organization: Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize
Result: Winner
Kirkus Prize (Fiction)
2024
Work: James
Category: Fiction
Organization: Kirkus Reviews
Result: Winner
National Book Award for Fiction
2024
Work: James
Category: Fiction
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: Winner
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
2025
Work: James
Category: Fiction
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Erasure

2001 Satire / Metafiction

A satirical metafiction about how the publishing industry pigeonholes African-American writers; the protagonist writes an outrageous novella to challenge expectations.

RaceIdentitySatire of publishingMetafiction
Adaptations
  • [Film] American Fiction / Cord Jefferson (2023)

I Am Not Sidney Poitier

2009 Satire / Identity fiction

Follows a protagonist confronting issues of name and identity across North America; uses humor and sharp observation to explore race and self-perception.

IdentityRaceSelf and other

The Trees

2021 Satire / Philosophical fiction

A satirical novel about historic and contemporary lynchings in Mississippi and across the U.S.; interrogates violence and collective memory.

LynchingMemory of violenceRaceJustice

James

2024 Historical reimagining / Novel

A reimagining of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the runaway slave Jim (here James); humanizes and reinterprets Jim as wise and literate, engaging questions of race, literacy, and agency.

SlaveryLiteracy and educationAgencyReinterpretation of history

American Desert

2004 Fantastic / Tragicomedy

A strange story about accident and 'death' in which the protagonist undergoes an odyssey of self-discovery, exploring religion, family, media sensationalism, and the meaning of being alive.

Life and deathReligion and revelationFamilyMedia critique

Dr. No

2022 Satire / Hybrid novel

A satirical work interrogating contemporary American society, repeatedly questioning reader and societal expectations.

SatireSocial critiqueViolence and media

Bibliography

  • Suder (1983)
  • Walk Me to the Distance (1985)
  • Cutting Lisa (1986)
  • Zulus (1990)
  • For Her Dark Skin (1990)
  • God's Country (1994)
  • Watershed (1996)
  • Frenzy (1997)
  • Glyph (1999)
  • Grand Canyon, Inc. (2001)
  • Erasure (2001)
  • A History of the African-American People (proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid (2004)
  • American Desert (2004)
  • Wounded (2005)
  • The Water Cure (2007)
  • I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009)
  • Assumption (2011)
  • Percival Everett by Virgil Russell (2013)
  • So Much Blue (2017)
  • Telephone (2020)
  • The Trees (2021)
  • Dr. No (2022)
  • James (2024)

Adaptations

  • Film 'American Fiction' (2023), adapted from Erasure

Style & Themes

Literary Style
SatiricalGenre-bending and metafictionalSharp observation with humorExperimental and polyphonic
Recurring Motifs
Race and identityMedia critiqueViolence and historical memoryQuestioning of language and narrative devices

Legacy

Everett, through satirical and experimental work, has deepened discussions of race and identity in American literature. With numerous major awards and successful film adaptation(s), he is regarded as one of the important intellectual voices of the early 21st century.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters

Archives

  • Materials/records associated with University of Southern California (related holdings)

In Popular Culture

  • The novel Erasure was adapted into the film American Fiction, which received critical acclaim and film awards.

Quotes

  • He has described himself as "pathologically ironic."
    Source: Interview / profile citation

Trivia

  • His great-grandmother was at one point enslaved.
  • Lives in Los Angeles; married to novelist Danzy Senna and has two children.
  • The film adaptation American Fiction (2023), based on Erasure, received awards including Best Adapted Screenplay.