Los Medanos College will host Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Percival Everett for a community author talk on Nov. 8 at 11 a.m., the centerpiece of this year’s Read Contra Costa program featuring his acclaimed novel “James.” The campus will also hold a faculty panel discussion on Oct. 30 at 12:45 p.m. to prepare readers for Everett’s visit. Both events are free and open to the public.
Read Contra Costa encourages Contra Costa County residents to read and discuss the same book. This year’s selection, “James,” retells Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of Jim, renamed James, and has drawn national attention, including the 2024 National Book Award and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Everett’s earlier novel “Erasure” inspired the film “American Fiction,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
For English professor Alex Sterling, who is using the novel “James” to teach part of his English C1000 academic reading and writing course, the novel is both accessible and challenging. “I feel privileged to be on the panel. It’s nice to be asked about the book,” Sterling said. “For my purposes as an instructor, I think it’s a great book. It’s kind of a readable book, kind of an adventure story, like a person can get into it, but also it’s really unusual. It has spots that you can discuss in class, because they’re harder to interpret.”
Sterling said the novel encourages students to think about code switching, a concept familiar to many at LMC. “The book brings up the issue of code switching really prominently. When I ask my students about code switching in their own lives, they all understand the idea and they give examples pretty easily,” he said. “The Black characters who are enslaved speak in a way when they’re just around each other that none of the white people of the time would have expected. Everett is encouraging a person like me to assume that people who are very different from myself might not be like I expect at all.”
History professor Russell Weber, also a panelist, said Everett’s reframing of the story pushes readers to reconsider how U.S. history is told. “By juxtaposing the two, we really get to see how important it is not to rely on the perspective of white historical figures to tell the narrative of how Black Americans survived slavery and then were able to win their freedom in the Civil War,” Weber said. He added that Everett’s retelling emphasizes the role of enslaved people in securing their own freedom rather than placing the focus solely on Union leaders.
Weber also said he is eager for students to hear directly from Everett. “I think the star power of Everett coming to our campus is fantastic,” he said. “I’m really excited for the students to be able to have a chance to hear someone who’s giving not just an important perspective on literature and the role of slavery and race relations in the United States, but also somebody who reevaluates what’s considered canon texts.”
Librarian Kim Wentworth said the LMC Library is maintaining an updated web page with event details, including a venue change that moved the Oct. 30 panel to the Recital Hall. She encouraged students to take advantage of free ebook and audiobook versions of “James” available through the Contra Costa County Library. “Ideally, students will read the book, then we’re doing this professor panel so we can get a lot of our questions out of the way to help deepen our understanding of the book,” Wentworth said. “When he comes, people aren’t asking, ‘What’s it about?’ We want people to already have a deep understanding.”
Everett, who is also a professor at the University of Southern California, has published more than 30 books across genres. For Sterling, Weber and others on campus, his visit to LMC is a rare chance for students and the community to engage with one of the nation’s most celebrated authors.
