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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Sian Cain

Percival Everett wins National Book Award for fiction with retelling of Huckleberry Finn

Percival Everett at the National Book awards in New York on Wednesday night, having won the fiction category for James, his retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Percival Everett at the National Book Awards in New York on Wednesday night, having won the fiction category for James, his retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Percival Everett has won the $10,000 National Book Award for fiction, one of the US’s most prestigious literary prizes, for James, his acclaimed reimagining of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The 67-year-old author was also shortlisted for this year’s Booker prize for James, which focuses on Huckleberry Finn’s enslaved character Jim. The Guardian’s Anthony Cummins called the book “gripping, painful, funny, horrifying” in his review.

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