“Devil is Fine” author John Vercher speaks at DSU

John Vercher, the author of Devil is Fine – A Time magazine “Must Read Book of 2024” – paid an Oct. 22 visit to Delaware State University to talk about his career, his latest book, and his approach to fiction writing.

Held in the multipurpose room of the Early Childhood Innovation Center, the well-attended event – co-sponsored by the DSU College of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences and the Delaware Humanities organization – gave Mr. Vercher a forum to share his insights on the profoundly moving Devil is Fine, his third novel.

“The book is a novel of what it means to be a father, a son, a writer, and a biracial American fighting to reconcile the past,” Mr. Vercher said.

Devil Fine has a Delaware connection. Mr. Vercher bases the beach area setting of the novel on Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, although the real-life tourist destination is never mentioned in the book. “I wanted to maintain the fictitious setting of the story, but it is based on Rehoboth,” the author said.

The Los Angeles Times notes that the Devil is Fine “provides a startling perspective, even darker than American Fiction, on what it means to be a person of color operating within our nation’s book-publishing industry. Time magazine describe it as a “heart-wrenching novel” in which a biracial writer finds himself in constant conversation with the teenage son he unexpectedly lost. “Caught between the natural world and the spirit one, he must come to terms with his family’s brutal past and his son’s death in order to find salvation.”

Mr. Vercher, who resides with his wife and two sons in Philadelphia, is also the author of the novels After the Lights Go Out and Three-Fifths. He has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Montainview Master of Fine Arts Program.