The Deep Read – Percival Everett in Conversation with Vilashini Cooppan
On May 4th, 2025, The Humanities Institute produced its sixth annual Deep Read program. The 2025 Deep Read culminated in a public discussion of James, a reimagining of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with author Percival Everett in conversation with Professor of Literature and Deep Read Faculty Co-Lead, Vilashini Cooppan, at the Quarry Amphitheater.
Winner of the 2024 National Book Award and 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Everett’s novel is a fugitive slave narrative told from the perspective of Twain’s enslaved character as he fights for freedom and dignity in an undignified world. Together, we considered how Everett depicts the possibility of humanity in this novel about the brutality of slavery, the performance of race, and the value of language and literacy.
Watch the event here (available until June 2, 2025):
View photos of the event here:
Exploring James
As we do every year, our program was grounded in deeply reading this year’s book with the help from scholars at UC Santa Cruz.
Our Deep Read Scholars
We enlisted a knowledgeable group of UC Santa Cruz professors who helped us read and analyze the book, understanding both its content and its contexts:
Vilashini Cooppan, Professor of Literature and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies, Deep Read Faculty Co-Lead
Susan Gillman, Professor of Literature
akua naru, Assistant Professor of Music
Greg O’Malley, Professor of History
Micah Perks, Professor of Literature
Karen Tei Yamashita, Professor Emerita of Literature
We read and explored Percival Everett’s book with the Deep Read community over 4 weeks, starting in early-April. Here’s what we did:
Email Explorations
We produced 4 weekly emails that reflected on a different aspect of the book, guided by this year’s Deep Read scholars.
- Week 1: Conversations with Twain—James Speaks Back
- Week 2: Doubled Voices—Language, Minstrelsy, and the Performance of Race
- Week 3: History and Myth, Literacy and Resistance—Slavery in James
- Week 4: Becoming James—Naming, Violence, and Unfinished Revolution
Twain Faculty Salon
On February 11 at 6pm, we began our program with an online event on Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, featuring Professor of Literature and Twain scholar, Susan Gillman. You can see Prof. Gillman’s talk slides here and view the event video below:
Craft Salon
On April 22 at 6pm, we hosted an online discussion focused on the writing craft of James. It was led by writers and Professors of Literature, Micah Perks and Karen Tei Yamashita.
James Faculty Salon
On April 29 at 6pm, we held a salon-style event at the Hay Barn on campus where our participating faculty, Professors Susan Gillman, akua naru, and Greg O’Malley, gave brief presentations and discussed James with the Deep Read community.
Regional Alumni Salons
We organized a number of salons across California for UC Santa Cruz alumni who wanted to connect with each other and discuss James. Our first Deep Read Alumni Salon took place in San Diego on April 15 at 6:30pm. Our second Alumni Salon took place in the East Bay on April 30 at 7pm.
Community Conversations
There were online forums for each of the four weekly email explorations of the book where people were able to ask questions, post comments, and engage with fellow Deep Readers. Each Deep Read event has a dedicated Q&A period during which people were able to pose questions, share ideas, and converse with the UC Santa Cruz faculty and other participants.
The Deep Read Class
In Spring Quarter 2025, Deep Read Faculty Co-Lead and Program Manager, Laura Martin, taught a course at Porter College for UC Santa Cruz students exploring James and Percival Everett’s other writings. Deep Read students were invited to a special author event during Everett’s visit. Many insights from the class were shared with the broader Deep Read community throughout the program.
The Deep Read is an annual program of The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz. We invite curious minds to think deeply about books and the most pressing issues of our contemporary moment with the help from scholars at UC Santa Cruz.
The Deep Read Program is made possible through the generous support of the Helen and Will Webster Foundation.