Pen Pals

Percival Everett

Hopkins Center for the Arts - In-person + Virtual
Mon, Oct 7, 2024, 7:30pm
Tue, Oct 8, 2024, 11:00am
Ticket prices
$35 - $59
Box office

Proceeds from this event benefit Hennepin County Library.

 

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Percival Everett Photo Credit Michael Avedon
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James by Percival Everett Book Cover

Read. Always read. No one can take that away from you.

 - Percival Everett

Pulitzer Prize Finalist

Percival Everett is the highly celebrated author of more than 30 books since his debut, Suder, was released in 1983. He is the winner of countless awards, including a PEN Award and a National Book Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Booker Prize. Everett is best known for his novels I Am Not Sidney Poitier, Dr. No, Telephone, and The Trees, many of which were published by Minneapolis-based Graywolf Press. His 2001 novel Erasure was adapted into the Oscar-winning 2023 film American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson.

Everett’s latest release, James, was named one of the most anticipated books of 2024 by Time and NPR. The novel is a brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view. Of the book, Kirkus raves: “The audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain’s epochal odyssey…One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.” Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, James is destined to become a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

Throughout his 40-year career, Everett has cultivated a reputation for his vast, genre-defying and innovative body of work―producing intellectual thrillers, satires, short stories, collections of poetry, and even paintings. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California and resides in Los Angeles.

All in-person Pen Pals programs are held at the Hopkins Center for the Arts—offering great sound and sight lines for the entire house. Just 15 minutes from downtown Minneapolis and 28 minutes from Saint Paul, Hopkins Center for the Arts offers free convenient parking as well as numerous nearby restaurants. Please click the button below to download a detailed directions and parking guide.

Hopkin Center for the Arts

1111 Mainstreet
Hopkins, MN 55343

View Directions & Parking Guide

Ticket holders to both sessions of this event will automatically receive access to a virtual live stream of the evening lecture via Zoom. A personalized link will be sent to the email provided during purchase at least 24 hours prior to the evening event. In addition, a link to an on-demand recording will be sent to ticket holders via email the day following the evening event and will be available for viewing for three days. If you plan on joining the livestream event and have not used Zoom before, you may consider referencing Getting Started with Zoom.

Accessible parking and seating is available at all Pen Pals events. Captions are available for both in-person and virtual events, and assistive listening devices are available at in-person events. Read more about accessibility at Pen Pals here.

Events guide cover featuring a drawing of audience seated in rows holding open books

Check out the Friends Fall Events Guide!

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