USC Dornsife’s Percival Everett joins a select handful of notable figures in literature, music, art and architecture who were elected this year.
Percival Everett, Distinguished Professor of English at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Founded in 1898, the academy stands as an honor society of the country’s leading writers, artists, composers and architects.
Everett is one of just 19 individuals — only six of whom are in the literature category — elected as members this year.
He is the fourth USC faculty member elected to the academy and the second at USC Dornsife. (Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and Writer in Residence Emeritus TC Boyle was elected in 2009.)
“I believe that the arts make us better, smarter,” Everett said. “I feel fortunate to be able to make a living as an artist and so participate in this ongoing discourse.”
Everett, whose research centers on American studies and critical theory, has authored 34 books as well as more than 70 shorter works including poems, essays and short stories.