Pulitzer-winning novel 'James' is up for another major honor

Pulitzer-winning novel ‘James’ is up for another major honor

Jul 14, 2025, 7:57 AM

This combination of images shows cover art for "James" by Percival Everett, left, and "John Lewis: A Life" by David Greenberg. (Doubleday/Simon & Schuster via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Doubleday/Simon & Schuster via AP)

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Percival Everett ‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 鈥淛ames鈥� is up for another literary honor.

Everett’s dramatic retelling of Mark Twain’s 鈥淭he Adventures of Huckleberry Finn鈥� is a fiction nominee for the 20th annual which comes with a $10,000 cash award. Besides the Pulitzer, 鈥淛ames鈥� has also won the National Book Award and Kirkus Prize.

David Greenberg’s 鈥� congressman, is a nonfiction finalist, the Dayton prize foundation announced Thursday.

Winners in both categories will be announced in September.

The other fiction contenders are Priscilla Morris鈥� 鈥淏lack Butterflies,鈥� Alejandro Puyana鈥檚鈥淔reedom Is a Feast,鈥� Kristin Hannah鈥檚鈥� The Women,鈥� Helen Benedict鈥檚鈥淭he Good Deed鈥� and Kaveh Akbar鈥檚鈥淢artyr!鈥�

Besides 鈥淛ohn Lewis,鈥� the nonfiction nominees are Sunil Amrith鈥檚鈥淭he Burning Earth,” Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor鈥檚鈥淪olidarity,鈥� Annie Jacobsen鈥檚鈥淣uclear War,鈥� Lauren Markham鈥檚鈥淎 Map of Future Ruins鈥� and Wendy Pearlman鈥檚鈥淭he Home I Worked to Make.鈥�

Established in 1995 and named for the historic agreements that ended the war in Bosnia, the Dayton prizes are given to authors whose 鈥渨ork demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace.鈥�

Previous winners include Viet Thanh Nguyen鈥檚鈥淭he Sympathizer,鈥滶dwidge Danticat 鈥檚鈥淏rother, I’m Dying鈥� and Ta-Nehisi Coates 鈥� 鈥淲e Were Eight Years in Power.鈥�

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