Percival Everett’s “James” Wins 2024 Fiction Pulitzer \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Percival Everett’s novel James, a bold retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the enslaved character’s perspective, has won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins took home the drama award for Purpose, a searing look at a successful Black family’s unraveling. The Pulitzers also honored works on civil rights, Soviet dissidents, Indigenous history, and endangered ecosystems.
Quick Looks
- Percival Everett’s James wins fiction, after also claiming the National Book Award, Kirkus Prize, and Carnegie Medal.
- James reimagines Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of the enslaved character.
- Everett called the Pulitzer “shocking and wonderful.”
- Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose wins drama, just days after earning six Tony nominations.
- Pulitzer called Purpose “a skillful blend of comedy and drama” exploring heritage and family conflict.
- Jason Roberts awarded biography prize for Every Living Thing, about scientific exploration.
- Two books share the history Pulitzer:
- Combee by Edda L. Fields-Black (Harriet Tubman’s raid)
- Native Nations by Kathleen DuVal (1,000 years of Indigenous history)
- Benjamin Nathans wins for general nonfiction (To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, on Soviet dissidents).
- Marie Howe takes the poetry Pulitzer for New and Selected Poems.
- Susie Ibarra wins music Pulitzer for Sky Islands, inspired by Luzon’s rainforest habitats.
- Awards announced amid NEA funding cuts; both Everett and Howe are past NEA fellows.
Deep Look
The 2024 Pulitzer Prizes showcased a powerful sweep of creative works confronting America’s deepest cultural and historical dynamics. At the forefront of this year’s awards is Percival Everett’s acclaimed novel James, which took home the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A radical reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, James retells Mark Twain’s iconic American tale from the viewpoint of the enslaved character Jim—here fully renamed and fully realized as James.
Everett’s re-envisioning is not just literary revisionism; it’s a bold reclamation of voice, identity, and agency. By retelling the narrative through James’s eyes, the novel subverts the tradition of centering white narratives in stories of slavery and liberation. The Pulitzer committee praised the book as “an accomplished reconsideration” that “illustrates the absurdity of racial supremacy and provides a new take on the search for family and freedom.” Critics and readers alike have lauded James for its rich characterization, moral clarity, and intellectual depth. Everett, long respected in literary circles but largely unknown to mass audiences, now finds himself at the peak of critical and commercial success.
James has already earned several prestigious awards, including the National Book Award, the Kirkus Prize, and the Carnegie Medal for Fiction. These accolades cement its status as the most decorated and popular literary novel of 2024. In a statement following his Pulitzer win, Everett expressed his surprise and gratitude: “I was shocked and pleased, but mostly shocked. This is a wonderful honor.”
Everett’s literary career, which spans decades, has recently gained renewed attention. In 2021, he won the PEN/Jean Stein Award for Dr. No, was a Pulitzer finalist for Telephone, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The Trees. His 2001 satire Erasure, which critiques racial stereotypes in publishing, was adapted into the 2023 film American Fiction, earning multiple Oscar nominations and amplifying his work to a wider audience.
Equally powerful in its exploration of identity and heritage is Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Set in the drawing room of a successful Black family, Purpose is a masterclass in subtle psychological tension and cultural dissection. The play explores how legacy, race, class, and familial dysfunction intersect—particularly within an African American elite rarely represented with such complexity on stage.
The Pulitzer committee praised Purpose for its “skillful blend of drama and comedy” and its keen insight into how different generations wrestle with the idea of heritage. Jacobs-Jenkins, known for his sharp wit and incisive storytelling, has previously been a two-time Pulitzer finalist—for Gloria in 2016 and Everybody in 2018. He won a Tony Award last year for his revival of Appropriate, a play that similarly interrogates family dynamics and the buried tensions of race and history. Purpose also garnered six Tony nominations this year, further establishing Jacobs-Jenkins as one of the most vital voices in American theater.
Beyond fiction and drama, the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes honored several other works deeply rooted in history, science, and social justice. In the Biography category, Jason Roberts won for Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life, a gripping narrative that recounts the international quest to catalog Earth’s biodiversity. The book combines scientific discovery with human ambition, painting a vivid picture of the triumphs and tragedies in the race to understand our planet’s life forms.
Benjamin Nathans received recognition in the General Nonfiction category for To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause, a comprehensive and humanizing look at the Soviet dissident movement. Nathans’ work offers both academic rigor and emotional resonance, detailing the sacrifices made by individuals who resisted authoritarianism in a repressive regime.
In a rare dual award in the History category, two powerful works that reframe American history through the lens of race were honored. Edda L. Fields-Black’s Combee delves into Harriet Tubman’s lesser-known military campaign during the Combahee River Raid, highlighting Black agency in the Civil War and recasting Tubman as a revolutionary leader. Kathleen DuVal’s Native Nations: A Millennium in North America challenges Eurocentric narratives, presenting a sweeping history of Indigenous peoples and their political and cultural resilience over the past thousand years.
The Poetry Prize was awarded to Marie Howe for New and Selected Poems, a collection marked by spiritual inquiry, emotional vulnerability, and precise language. Known for her deeply human verse, Howe has long been a voice for those seeking meaning in personal loss and social change.
In Music, Susie Ibarra’s Sky Islands was honored. This eight-piece composition, inspired by the lush and diverse rainforest ecosystems of Luzon in the Philippines, explores environmental fragility through sound. Blending percussion and traditional Filipino musical themes, Ibarra’s work was praised for its ecological consciousness and experimental brilliance.
These awards come at a pivotal time for the American arts and literary community. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a key supporter of countless writers and creative organizations, is undergoing significant budget cuts and workforce reductions. Both Everett and Howe are past NEA fellowship recipients, underscoring the role the institution has played in nurturing artists whose work later garners national acclaim. The timing of the Pulitzers, set against this backdrop of institutional austerity, casts a spotlight on the urgent need for sustained public investment in the arts.
In sum, the 2024 Pulitzer Prizes reflect a deepening cultural conversation in the United States—one that interrogates its racial past, reclaims lost narratives, and celebrates the diversity of human expression. From the Mississippi Riverbanks of James to the familial interiors of Purpose, these stories confront who we are and who we might yet become.
Percival Everett’s
You must Register or Login to post a comment.