Percival Everett: James
UMAC acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the unceded land on which we work. We pay respect to their Elders past and present, and their enduring traditions of knowledge sharing, performing and storytelling on this land.
Actors name
Chars name
UMAC and The Wheeler Centre present
Percival Everett: James
When
7pm-8.15pm
Where
Union Theatre
Arts and Cultural Building
The University of Melbourne
15 Monash Road, Parkville VIC 3010
Revered American novelist Percival Everett discusses his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel James, a bold and transformative response to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In his reimagining of an American classic, Percival Everett flips the script on Mark Twain’s Huck Finn, placing Huck’s enslaved companion Jim – here renamed James – at the centre of the narrative and granting him the voice he’s been long denied. The resulting novel is gripping, funny and strikingly relevant: a sharp reckoning with American identity, the dehumanising legacy of slavery and the enduring absurdity of racial supremacy.
In this special event, Everett joins host Osman Faruqi to discuss what drew him to this act of literary reclamation and why he views his work as being in conversation with Twain’s. He will also reflect on his decades-spanning literary career and the recent adaptation of his novel Erasure into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from one of the most inventive and incisive voices in contemporary American literature in Everett’s only Melbourne appearance.
Tickets
Full Price - Early Bird
$49.50
Concession - Early Bird
$39.50
Early Bird pricing ends 25 November or until sold out.
Group Bookings
Groups 6+ get standard 10% discount across all reserves.
Artist Signing
Percival Everett will be signing books after the event.
Accessibility
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Accessible toilets available
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Infrared Hearing Assist System
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Auslan interpreting available y-request
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Companion tickets available
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Registered Assistance Animals welcome
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Wheelchair Accessible
Presented in partnership with The Wheeler Centre. The bookseller for this event is Readings.
Featuring
Percival Everett
Percival Everett is the author of over 30 books, including So Much Blue, Telephone, Dr. No and The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. He has received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His novel Erasure has been adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, and his latest novel James was a finalist for the 2025 Booker Prize. He lives in Los Angeles.
Osman Faruqi
Osman Faruqi is an award-winning journalist and editor. He was most recently the Culture Editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He executive produced the 7am podcast and has also worked as a journalist and editor at the ABC. He is the co-founder of Lamestream, an independent media company covering how the media shapes news, culture, politics and current affairs.
Photo by Sarah Pannell
Revered American novelist Percival Everett discusses his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel James, a bold and transformative response to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In his reimagining of an American classic, Percival Everett flips the script on Mark Twain’s Huck Finn, placing Huck’s enslaved companion Jim – here renamed James – at the centre of the narrative and granting him the voice he’s been long denied. The resulting novel is gripping, funny and strikingly relevant: a sharp reckoning with American identity, the dehumanising legacy of slavery and the enduring absurdity of racial supremacy.
In this special event, Everett joins host Osman Faruqi to discuss what drew him to this act of literary reclamation and why he views his work as being in conversation with Twain’s. He will also reflect on his decades-spanning literary career and the recent adaptation of his novel Erasure into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from one of the most inventive and incisive voices in contemporary American literature in Everett’s only Melbourne appearance.
Featuring
Percival Everett
Percival Everett is the author of over 30 books, including So Much Blue, Telephone, Dr. No and The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. He has received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His novel Erasure has been adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, and his latest novel James was a finalist for the 2025 Booker Prize. He lives in Los Angeles.
Osman Faruqi
Osman Faruqi is an award-winning journalist and editor. He was most recently the Culture Editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He executive produced the 7am podcast and has also worked as a journalist and editor at the ABC. He is the co-founder of Lamestream, an independent media company covering how the media shapes news, culture, politics and current affairs.
Photo by Sarah Pannell