Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Percival Everett is celebrated internationally for his formally inventive fiction and genre-crossing subject matter. Though he is less widely known for his visual art, painting and drawing have long been central to Everett’s artistic life. Working with text and image, he probes the limits of narrative and abstraction, asking throughout how meaning is constructed, how perception is shaped, and how representation both reveals and obscures.
In this talk, in dialogue with fellow Academy guest speaker Naomi Beckwith, deputy director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation and artistic director of documenta 16, Everett reflects upon the interplay between his literary and visual work. Complemented by Beckwith’s multidisciplinary curatorial approach—grounded in close collaboration with artists and interrogating principles of context and display—they explore how literature and visual art intersect as both creative disciplines and forms of inquiry and imagination.
This event is a collaboration among the American Academy in Berlin, Hamburger Bahnhof, and Literaturhaus Berlin. It is part of the Crossroads# Literature Meets Art series.
Meet the speaker
Percival Everett is an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and visual artist. His work is celebrated for its formal inventiveness, philosophical rigor, and sharp interrogation of race and representation in American culture. The author of more than thirty books, Everett moves fluidly among a wide range of subjects, styles, and genres, from satire to thriller,…
Watch event related videos
If you missed an event, you can watch the video recording here.
Listen to the Podcast
Hear the full conversation, recorded live at the Hans Arnhold Center.