May 6, 2025 Story by: Publisher
Percival Everett’s novel ‘James’ has won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, announced Monday by the Pulitzer Prize Board.
The book offers a powerful reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of Jim, Huck’s enslaved companion on the raft journey.
Reflecting on the accolade, Everett said, “I was shocked and pleased, but mostly shocked. This is a wonderful honor.”
Everett’s Pulitzer triumph cements the million‑selling ‘James’ as the most celebrated U.S. literary novel of 2024 and accelerates the 68‑year‑old author’s rise from a critically acclaimed figure to mainstream prominence.
Since 2021, he has received the PEN/Jean Stein Award for Dr. No, been a Pulitzer finalist for Telephone, and earned a Booker Prize shortlist nomination for The Trees. Prior to this week’s honor, ‘James’ had already secured the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize and the Carnegie Medal for Fiction.
In its citation, the Pulitzer board lauded ‘James’ as “an accomplished reconsideration” that highlights “the absurdity of racial supremacy and provides a new take on the search for family and freedom.”
