In an unusual but not unprecedented move, the prize board chose a fourth option after it couldn’t agree on the three less-heralded finalists.

Everett’s novel was honored at the 2025 awards, along with other books in the categories of fiction, general nonfiction, memoir, poetry, history and biography.

Percival Everett has won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for James, his retelling of Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of an enslaved man. The novel has become one of the most acclaimed literary works of the year.