Percival Everett facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Percival Everett
Everett in 2024
Born	Percival Leonard Everett II (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; Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 2025
Spouse	Danzy Senna
Children	2

Percival Leonard Everett II (born December 22, 1956) is a famous American writer. He is also a special professor of English at the University of Southern California. He has written many different kinds of books. These include westerns, mysteries, thrillers, and funny stories that make you think.

Everett's books often use humor to explore important topics. He writes about race and identity in the United States. He is well-known for novels like Erasure (2001) and I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009). His book The Trees (2021) was a finalist for the Booker Prize.

His 2024 novel James also made the Booker Prize shortlist. It won several big awards. These include the Kirkus Prize, the National Book Award for Fiction, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The movie American Fiction (2023) was based on his novel Erasure.

About Percival Everett

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

Everett later moved to the American West. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Miami. He studied many subjects, like science and math. In 1982, he earned a master's degree in writing from Brown University.

Today, Everett lives in Los Angeles, California. He lives with his wife, Danzy Senna, who is also a novelist. They have two children.

Percival Everett's Books

Percival Everett has written many books across different genres. He started writing his first novel while still in college.

Early Novels

Everett' wrote his first novel, Suder, in 1983. It was about a baseball player who was not doing well. His second novel, Walk Me to the Distance (1985), was about a veteran returning from war. This book was later made into a TV movie. However, Everett did not like the movie version. He felt they changed his story too much.

In 1986, he published Cutting Lisa. This book explores how a character thinks about his relationships. In 1987, he released The Weather and Women Treat Me Fair: Stories. This was a collection of short stories, mostly set in the western United States.

Exploring Genres

In 1990, Everett published two books. Zulus was a mix of strange and end-of-the-world themes. For Her Dark Skin was a new version of the ancient Greek play Medea.

He even wrote a children's book called The One That Got Away (1992). This book was illustrated and followed three cowboys. They tried to catch mischievous numbers called "ones."

Everett then wrote his first full-length western novel, God's Country, in 1994. It was a funny take on westerns. It also made fun of ideas about race and gender.

In 1996, he published Watershed, another western story. It was about a loner who meets a Native American "small person." This meeting helps him understand how people are connected. That same year, he released his second collection of stories, Big Picture.

Unique Stories

In Frenzy (1997), Everett went back to Greek myths. The story is told by Dionysos's assistant, Vlepo. Vlepo has to go through many strange experiences. He even turns into lice and curtains to explain things to Dionysos.

Glyph (1999) is a story within a story. It's about a baby named Ralph who chooses not to speak. Ralph is super smart and writes notes to his mom about books. He gets kidnapped by people who want to use his special skills. Through his adventures, Ralph learns about love.

Grand Canyon, Inc. (2001) was Everett's first short novel. In it, a character tries to make the Grand Canyon into a business.

Satire and Social Issues

In 2001, Everett also published Erasure. This funny novel shows how the publishing world sometimes puts African-American writers into boxes. The main character writes a wild story called My Pafology. He wants to challenge what people expect from Black writers.

In 2004, Everett released A History of the African-American People (proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid. This novel is told through letters. It follows the characters Percival Everett and James Kincaid. They work with a US Senator and his strange assistant.

Also in 2004, he published American Desert. In this novel, a man named Ted Street dies in a car accident. But three days later, he sits up in his coffin! The story follows his journey to understand what it means to be alive. It explores ideas about religion, love, and family.

Wounded: A Novel (2005) is about a horse trainer named John Hunt. He faces hate crimes against a homosexual person and a Native American. Hunt tries to stay out of it. But he is forced to act when he can no longer avoid it.

Later Works

Everett also writes poetry. His collection re:f (gesture) came out in 2006. His book Swimming Swimmers Swimming was published in 2010.

The Water Cure (2007) is a dark novel. It's about a romance novelist whose life changes after his daughter dies. He believes he has found her killer and holds him captive.

In 2009, I Am Not Sidney Poitier was released. The main character is named Not Sidney Poitier. He looks like the famous actor Sidney Poitier. He faces challenges related to his identity and race in North America.

Assumption: A Novel (2011) tells three connected stories. Some characters from earlier Everett stories appear in it. One story follows a deputy sheriff solving a murder case.

In 2013, Percival Everett by Virgil Russell: A Novel was published. It's about a man visiting his father in a nursing home. His father seems to be writing a novel from his son's point of view.

Eight years later, The Trees came out. This funny novel is about historic and modern lynchings in the US. It won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. It was also a finalist for the 2022 Booker Prize.

Dr. No, published in 2022, won the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics award for fiction.

In 2023, the movie American Fiction was released. It was based on Everett's 2001 novel Erasure. The movie won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

His 2024 novel James is a new look at Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It tells the story from the point of view of the character Jim. Everett makes Jim a wise and educated man. Jim and other Black characters hide their knowledge from white characters. Everett said he hoped his book would get banned. He said this because he likes to bother people who do not think or read. James was a finalist for the 2024 Booker Prize. It won the Kirkus Prize, the National Book Award for Fiction, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Awards and Recognition

Percival Everett has received many awards and honors for his writing. His short stories have been included in important collections.

He received an honorary doctorate from the College of Santa Fe in 2008. In 2015, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. This is a special award for people doing important work. He also received the Phi Kappa Phi Presidential Medallion.

In 2016, Everett was chosen for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2023, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was also named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2025.

Images for kids

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  Everett accepting the National Book Award for Fiction in 2024