Percival Everett facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Percival Everett
Everett in 2024
Born	(1956-12-22) December 22, 1956 (age 68) Fort Gordon, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist, story writer
Education	University of Miami (BA) Brown University (MA)
Period	Contemporary
Notable works	Erasure (2001); I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009); The Trees (2021); James (2024)
Notable awards	Hurston/Wright Legacy Award; Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction, 2023; National Book Award for Fiction, 2024
Spouse	Danzy Senna
Children	2

Percival Leonard Everett II (born December 22, 1956) is a famous American writer and a professor of English. He teaches at the University of Southern California.

Everett is known for writing many different kinds of stories. He often uses humor and clever ideas to explore important topics. These topics include race and identity in the United States.

Some of his most popular books are Erasure (2001), I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009), and The Trees (2021). The Trees was even considered for the prestigious Booker Prize.

His 2024 novel, James, also made the shortlist for the Booker Prize. It won the Kirkus Prize and the National Book Award for Fiction.

The novel Erasure was made into a movie called American Fiction in 2023. It was a very successful film.

About Percival Everett

Early Life and Learning

Percival L. Everett was born in Fort Gordon, Georgia. His father was a sergeant in the U.S. Army. When Percival was a baby, his family moved to Columbia, South Carolina. He grew up there and went to high school.

He was the oldest of several children. His father later became a dentist.

Everett went to the University of Miami and earned a degree in philosophy. He also studied many other subjects, like science and math. Later, he earned a master's degree in writing from Brown University in 1982.

Today, he lives in Los Angeles, California.

Everett's Writing Journey

First Books and Different Styles

While finishing his master's degree, Everett wrote his first novel, Suder (1983). This book is about a Seattle Mariners baseball player who is having a tough time.

His second novel, Walk Me to the Distance (1985), tells the story of a soldier returning from the Vietnam War. This book was later made into a TV movie. However, Everett did not like the movie version because it changed his story too much.

In 1986, he published Cutting Lisa. This book explores how a character thinks about his relationships after a strange meeting.

Everett also writes short stories. In 1987, he released The Weather and Women Treat Me Fair: Stories. These stories are mostly set in the western United States.

Reimagining Old Stories

In 1990, Everett published two books that retold Greek myths. Zulus mixed strange ideas with stories about the end of the world. For Her Dark Skin was a new version of the ancient Greek play Medea.

A Book for Young Readers

Switching to a new type of writing, Everett wrote a children's book called The One That Got Away (1992). This illustrated book is for young readers. It follows three cowboys trying to catch mischievous numbers, called "ones."

Westerns and Modern Tales

Everett wrote his first full-length western novel, God's Country, in 1994. It's a funny story that makes fun of traditional westerns. It also explores ideas about race and gender.

In 1996, he published Watershed, another story set in the modern West. It's about a scientist who meets a Native American person. This meeting helps him understand how people are connected. That same year, he released his second collection of short stories, Big Picture.

In Frenzy (1997), Everett went back to Greek mythology. The story is told by Vlepo, an assistant to the god Dionysos. Vlepo has to go through many strange experiences to explain them to Dionysos.

A Baby Genius and a Big Canyon

Glyph (1999) is a unique story about a baby named Ralph. Ralph chooses not to speak, but he is incredibly smart. He writes notes to his mother about books. Ralph gets kidnapped several times by people who want to use his special skills.

Grand Canyon, Inc. (2001) is a shorter novel. In it, a character tries to make the Grand Canyon into a business.

Erasure and American Fiction

In 2001, Everett published his important novel Erasure. This book uses satire to show how the publishing world sometimes puts African-American writers into certain boxes. The main character writes a wild story called My Pafology to challenge these ideas.

This novel was later adapted into the award-winning film American Fiction (2023). The movie won an Oscar for its script.

More Stories and Ideas

In 2004, Everett released A History of the African-American People (proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid. This is a funny story told through letters. It's about the characters Percival Everett and James Kincaid working with a US Senator and his unusual assistant.

He also released a third collection of short stories, Damned If I Do: Stories, and the novel American Desert in 2004.

Wounded: A Novel (2005) is about a horse trainer named John Hunt. He faces unfair treatment against people in his community. Hunt tries to avoid getting involved, but he is forced to act.

Everett has also published books of poetry, including re:f (gesture) (2006) and Swimming Swimmers Swimming (2010).

The Water Cure (2007) is a novel about a romance novelist whose life changes after a sad event.

Identity and New Perspectives

In 2009, I Am Not Sidney Poitier was published. The main character is named Not Sidney Poitier, because he looks like the famous actor Sidney Poitier. The book explores challenges related to identity and how people are treated differently based on their race.

Assumption: A Novel (2011) tells three connected stories. One story follows a deputy sheriff in New Mexico who is investigating a murder.

In 2013, Everett published Percival Everett by Virgil Russell: A Novel. This book is about a man visiting his father, who seems to be writing a novel from his son's point of view.

Eight years later, he published The Trees (2021). This satirical novel looks at historical and modern unfair treatment in the US. It won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the 2022 Booker Prize.

His 2022 novel, Dr. No, won the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.

James and Modern Takes on Classics

In 2024, Everett published James. This novel retells Mark Twain's famous book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But this time, it's told from the perspective of the runaway slave character, Jim.

Everett's version makes Jim a wise and educated man. He even teaches other enslaved people to read. Jim and the other Black characters in the book hide their knowledge from white characters. They know that educated Black people would be seen as a threat.

Everett has said he hopes his version of James gets banned. He said this because he enjoys "irritating those people who do not think and read." James was a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize and won the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.

Awards and Recognitions

Percival Everett's stories have been featured in important collections like the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Short Stories.

He has received many honors for his writing:

• In 2008, he received an honorary doctorate degree.
• In 2015, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction. This is a special award given to talented people in arts and sciences.
• He was chosen to be part of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.
• In 2023, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
• He received a Windham Campbell Prize for fiction in 2023.

Images for kids

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  Everett accepting the National Book Award for Fiction in 2024