2025 Maleny Big Book Club

FOR HUCK’S SAKE – REWORKING A CLASSIC

The 2025 Maleny Big Book returns to explore what it means for contemporary writers to re-tell the classics and the different methods they use to do so. We are thrilled to welcome back our special guest Kate Evans (ABC RN, The Bookshelf) on her annual visit to our boutique event. 

We will take a deep dive into the multi-award winning novel James by Percival Everett – a retelling of the classic novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

James is told from the perspective of the slave Jim. In this new imagining we experience the same dramatic tension building in the adventures of the river-borne runaways, but with a surprising relationship twist. What James does during their escape is as much for Huck’s sake as his own. Listen to Percival Everett talk about his book here. 

While it will be possible to enjoy our discussion without reading the original, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the power of James is derived from its engagement with Twain’s book. Read one or both books ahead of our popular annual gathering. 

About Percival Everett

Percival Everett is an American writer and a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. He has described himself as “pathologically ironic” and has played around with numerous genres such as western fiction, mysteries, thrillers, satire and philosophical fiction. His books are often satirical, aimed at exploring race and identity issues in the United States.

He is best known for his novels Erasure (2001), I Am Not Sidney Poitier (2009) and The Trees (2021) and which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. His 2024 novel James won the 2024 National Book Award in America, and the 2024 Kirkus Prize for Fiction. It was also awarded the 2024 Carnegie Medal for Fiction and shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.