Percival Everett

American writer · United States · On the map · Writers · Born 1956 · age 69

Percival Leonard Everett II is an American author and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. He has described himself as "pathologically ironic" and has explored numerous genres such as western fiction, mysteries, thrillers, satire and philosophical fiction.

Percival Everett is read about 672 times a day, in 16 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

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A life in dates

2025Pulitzer Prize for FictionAwardTime 100Award2024National Book Award for FictionAward2021Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement AwardAward2018PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary AwardAward2017“There are two ways to approach the race thing.”In their wordsOn the term “Black writers” in “Percival Everett, The Art of Fiction No. 235” in The Paris Review (Summer 2017)Read the whole statement

2015“I'm writing the West that exists. You have to remember that Westerns are complete mythology. If you talk about the historic West, a third of the cowboys were black.”In their wordsOn writing accurately about the West in “For Prolific Author Percival Everett, The Wilderness Is A Place Of Clarity” in NPR (2015 Sep 20)Read the whole statement

Guggenheim FellowshipAward2012Lucien Barrière Literary AwardAward1956Born22 December 1956

People around Percival

Cord Jefferson Directed American Fiction (2023)

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Everett accepting the National Book Award for Fiction in 2024

In their own words 2

Percival Everett

2 statements, newest first

The interesting thing about irony for me is that real irony is far more sincere than earnestness. To accept the absurdity of a situation is to accept the humanness of it.
On irony versus humor in “Coming Home from Irony: An Interview with Percival Everett, Author of ‘So Much Blue’” in Los Angeles Review of, Own words
I have no desire to offer a political message in a novel. An artist cannot hide from her or his political beliefs; they will be in the work.
On the avoidance of a political message in his works in “Coming Home from Irony: An Interview with Percival Everett, Author of ‘So Much, Own words