NEW YORK: Percival Everett’s novel “James,” his radical reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of the enslaved title character, has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
“Purpose,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ drawing-room drama about an accomplished Black family destroying itself from within, won for drama. It also earned six Tony Award nominations last week.
Everett’s Pulitzer confirmed the million-selling “James” as the most celebrated and popular US literary novel of 2024, and accelerated the 68-year-old author’s remarkable rise after decades of being little known to the general public. Since 2021, he has won the PEN/Jean Stein Award for “Dr. No,” was a Pulitzer finalist for “Telephone” and on the Booker shortlist for “The Trees.” Before Monday, “James” had already won the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize and the Carnegie Medal for fiction. His racial and publishing satire “Erasure,” released in 2001, was adapted into the Oscar-nominated 2023 film “American Fiction.”
The Pulitzer citation called “James” an “accomplished reconsideration” that illustrates “the absurdity of racial supremacy and provide a new take on the search for family and freedom.” Everett said in a statement that he was “shocked and pleased, but mostly shocked. This is a wonderful honor.”