Percival Everett - Reading and Book Signing

The Warfield Center has invited esteemed author Percival Everett to give a reading and book signing on Thursday, September 26, from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM at Hogg Memorial Auditorium (2300 Whitis Avenue, Austin, Texas 78705)

Guests are invited to attend in person or virtually. The in-person event is followed by a public reception and book signing at 6:00 PM.

This event is sponsored by the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, the Harry Ransom Center, the Humanities Institute, Texas Book Festival.

Books will be available for sale, courtesy of Black Pearl Books, and Everett will sign copies after the event.

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Those joining virtually can watch it livestream .

As parking can be difficult to find on the UT Austin campus, we recommend using a rideshare service, public transportation (see capmetro.org to learn more), or walking to the Hogg Memorial Auditorium.

If you do choose to drive, the nearest public parking options include:

San Antonio Garage 2420 San Antonio Street, between 24th and 25th Streets.

Rowling Hall Garage at 300 West MLK Jr. Blvd (entrance is off of 20th Street)

Brazos Garage at 210 East MLK Blvd

Conference Center Garage beneath the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center.

ABOUT PERCIVAL EVERETT

Percival Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC. His most recent books include Dr. No (finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction and winner of the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award), The Trees (finalist for the Booker Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction), Telephone (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), So Much Blue, Erasure, and I Am Not Sidney Poitier.He has received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Life Achievement Award and The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023 and was awarded the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and their children.

ABOUT JAMES

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.
Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

A reservation does not guarantee a seat. Line forms upon arrival of the first patron, and doors open 30 minutes in advance. Attendees must present printed or electronic confirmation for entrance. Seats not claimed by 4:20 p.m. will be released.

Host or Publisher John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies- UT Austin