Percival Everett grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and has published 15 novels, three collections of short fiction, and one volume of poetry.  Among his novels are Wounded, American Desert, For Her Dark Skin, Zulus, The Weather and the Women Treat Me Fair, Suder, and Erasure.  He has received the the Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature for his short story collection Big Picture, a New Writing Award, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Everett teaches creative writing, American studies, and critical theory at the University of Southern California.