A black man stares at the camera, he wears black glasses and has a beard and grey hair.

A conversation with Percival Everett

  • Talks and Ideas
  • Drama Theatre
  • Run time: 60 minutes Subject to change
  • Seating map

Satire and subversion with America’s endlessly inventive novelist

Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning James, Percival Everett joins us for an engrossing conversation about the power of parody and satire to puncture holes in our ideas about race and identity. Join us for the wit and style of an American literary treasure on his first visit to Australia.

The author of more than thirty books, Percival Everett’s work features strong ideas hitting the current moment. James, which re-tells the story of Huckleberry Finn from the point of few of the enslaved Jim, is darkly funny and boldly eviscerating - a kind of literary restorative justice that provides a deeper understanding of the dynamics influencing American culture and politics. His novel Erasure, adapted into the film American Fiction (which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay) hilariously skewers American publishing and the expectations of the market for works that purport to reveal the “Black American experience”.

His other notable works include I Am Not Sidney Poitier, So Much Blue, Telephone, Dr. No, and The Trees, which was also a Booker Prize finalist in 2022. Don’t miss this chance to hear from one of the most vital voices in contemporary literature.

Percival Everett’s conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and a book signing.

Presented by Sydney Opera House

Event details

One of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists.

The Washington Post

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Attending this event

Plan your visit

Address

Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia

Getting to the venue

The Opera House is a 7-10 minute walk from Circular Quay, and is easily accessible by car, train, ferry, lightrail, bus, bike and on foot.

Location and access

Drama Theatre

The Drama Theatre is located in the north-western corner of Sydney Opera House, best accessed through the Western Foyers.

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