Author & Book Information

2025-2026 Go Big Read: James: A Novel by Percival Everett

About the Book

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

Penguin Random House – James by Percival Everett

About the Author

Percival Everett is one of the most innovative, provocative, and prolific writers of our time. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the National Book Award for Fiction, he has produced a captivating and immensely diverse collection of genre-bending literary works that challenge and inspire readers to contemplate and reconsider the societal and cultural forces that shape our worldviews.

In his wide-ranging literary works, Everett examines a plethora of questions at the core of what it means to be human. From “western” and epistolary novels and wild capers to retellings of Greek mythology, short stories, and poetry, Everett boldly tackles different styles and formats, turning each into his own in the process. With his sharp observations and biting wit, he explores everything from race, politics, gender, and power to family, purpose, the battle between love and intellect, and what it truly means to be alive.

In his engaging talks, he shares fascinating anecdotes about how he created his diverse bibliography and his unique approach to the creative process.

Everett’s newest novel, James, is a brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and ferociously funny—told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. An instant New York Times bestseller hailed as “genius” by The Atlantic, James won the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction. A film adaptation, produced by Steven Spielberg, is currently in development. His other recent books include Dr. No (winner of the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier. He has also written acclaimed short story and poetry collections.

Everett received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction—among many other literary awards—and was also the recipient of a 2023 Windham Campbell Prize for Fiction. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at University of Southern California and lives in Los Angeles.

For more information on Percival Everett, please visit www.prhspeakers.com.

Percival Everett Page – Penguin Random House Speaker’s Bureau