Event Program
Thalia Book Club: Percival Everett, James
PERCIVAL EVERETT, JAMES
WED, APR 22
READING
John Douglas Thompson
DISCUSSION
Percival Everett and Marlon James
A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUDIENCE
Look for the table at the back of the house when you enter to submit your question for Percival!
If you purchased a copy of James with your ticket, please stop by the book sales table to pick up your copy. Have your ticket ready to show proof of purchase.
Additional books by tonight’s authors are available for purchase at the back of the theater; there will not be a book signing at this event.
Produced in collaboration with Barnes & Noble Union Square
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The Artists (in alphabetical order)
Percival Everett
Percival Everett is the author of the novel James, which won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC, whose previous 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, The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University, and the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023 and was awarded the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The paperback of James was published on April 21st.
Percival Everett is the author of the novel James, which won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. Everett is a Distinguished Professor of English at USC, whose previous 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, The Windham Campbell Prize from Yale University, and the Stowe Prize for Literary Activism. American Fiction, the feature film based on his novel Erasure, was released in 2023 and was awarded the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The paperback of James was published on April 21st.
Marlon James
Marlon James is the author of the Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings; the National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf; the New York Times-bestselling Moon Witch, Spider King; The Book of Night Women; and John Crow’s Devil. In addition to the Booker Prize, his novels have won the American Book Award, the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Born in Jamaica, James lives in New York City. His latest novel, The Disappearers, will be published in September.
Marlon James is the author of the Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings; the National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf; the New York Times-bestselling Moon Witch, Spider King; The Book of Night Women; and John Crow’s Devil. In addition to the Booker Prize, his novels have won the American Book Award, the Los Angeles Times’ Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Born in Jamaica, James lives in New York City. His latest novel, The Disappearers, will be published in September.
John Douglas Thompson
John Douglas Thompson won an Obie Award for his Off-Broadway performance of Othello in 2009, and returned to the role with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2024. He has performed on Broadway in Jitney, King Lear, Carousel, and A Time to Kill. His additional Off-Broadway and regional credits include Endgame, Hamlet, A Doll’s House, The Father, Tamburlaine, Julius Caesar, The Iceman Cometh, Satchmo at the Waldorf, Inherit the Wind, The Tempest, Man in the Ring, and The Merchant of Venice at The Royal Lyceum Theater in London. He has received a Tony Award nomination and is the recipient of Drama Desk, Obie, Drama League, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle awards. Onscreen, Thompson has been seen in Highest 2 Lowest, Till, Let Them All Talk, The 355, The Gilded Age, Mare of Easttown, and For Life. Forthcoming projects include the series All the Sinners Bleed on Netflix.
John Douglas Thompson won an Obie Award for his Off-Broadway performance of Othello in 2009, and returned to the role with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2024. He has performed on Broadway in Jitney, King Lear, Carousel, and A Time to Kill. His additional Off-Broadway and regional credits include Endgame, Hamlet, A Doll’s House, The Father, Tamburlaine, Julius Caesar, The Iceman Cometh, Satchmo at the Waldorf, Inherit the Wind, The Tempest, Man in the Ring, and The Merchant of Venice at The Royal Lyceum Theater in London. He has received a Tony Award nomination and is the recipient of Drama Desk, Obie, Drama League, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle awards. Onscreen, Thompson has been seen in Highest 2 Lowest, Till, Let Them All Talk, The 355, The Gilded Age, Mare of Easttown, and For Life. Forthcoming projects include the series All the Sinners Bleed on Netflix.
MORE INFORMATION
The Thalia Book Club is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Seedlings Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Charina Endowment Fund, Charles D. Fleischman Charitable Trust, Susan Bay Nimoy, The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America, PECO Foundation, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, and the Seedtime Foundation.
This program is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Symphony Space thanks our generous supporters, including our Board of Directors, Producers Circle, and members, who make our programs possible with their annual support.
Kathy Landau Executive Director
Peg Wreen Managing Director
Isaiah Sheffer*
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Artistic Director (1990-2010)
Founding Artistic Director (2010-2012)
Allan Miller
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
Drew Richardson Lead Producer of Literary Programs
Vivienne Woodward Senior Producer of Literary Programs
Mary Shimkin Director of Broadcast & Literary Initiatives
Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
Magdalene Wrobleski Program Associate
Lili Raynaud Literary Intern
Gabriela Weaver Literary Intern
*in memoriam
