For the first 18 years of his career, Percival Everett b. 1956 managed to fly under the radar of the literary establishment as he followed his artistic vision down a variety of unconventional paths, including his preference for releasing his books through independent publishers. But with the publication of his novel Erasure in 2001, his literary genius could no longer be kept under wraps. The author of more than twenty-five books, Everett has established himself as one of America's - and arguably the world's - premier 21st-century fiction writers. Among his many honors since 2000 are HurstonWright Legacy Awards for Erasure and I Am Not Sidney Poitier 2009 and three prominent awards for his 2005 novel Wounded - the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction, France's Prix Lucioles des Libraires, and Italy's Premio Vallombrosa Gregor von Rezzori Prize. The interviews collected in this volume - several of which appear in print or in English translation for the first time - display Everett'