Bernardine Evaristo

Bernardine Evaristo
OBE FRSL FRSA
Evaristo in 2018
Born
Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo

(1959-05-28) 28 May 1959 (age 65)
Eltham, London, England
EducationEltham Hill Grammar School for Girls
Alma materRose Bruford College of Speech and Drama; Goldsmiths College, University of London
Occupation(s)Novelist, critic, poet, playwright, academic
Notable workLara (1997)
The Emperor's Babe (2001)
Girl, Woman, Other (2019)
SpouseDavid Shannon
AwardsBooker Prize, 2019
Indie Book Award for Fiction 2020
British Book Awards: Fiction and Author of the Year 2020
Websitebevaristo.com

Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo OBE FRSL FRSA (born 28 May 1959) is an English author and academic. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, making her the first Black woman to win the Booker.[a][b][3][4][5] Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and President of the Royal Society of Literature, the second woman and the first black person to hold the role since it was founded in 1820.

Evaristo is a longstanding advocate for the inclusion of writers and artists. In 2024 she founded the RSL Scriptorium Awards, offering struggling UK writers 'a place to write' on the Kent coast for up to a month each, in partnership with the Royal Society of Literature. She founded the Brunel International African Poetry Prize,[6] 2012–2022, which in 2023 became the Evaristo African Poetry Prize with the African Poetry Book Fund, and she initiated The Complete Works mentoring scheme for poets of colour, 2007–2017.[7] She co-founded Spread the Word writer development agency with Ruth Borthwick[8] (1995–present) and Britain's first black women's theatre company (1982–1988), Theatre of Black Women.[9] Evaristo organised Britain's first major black theatre conference, Future Histories, for the Black Theatre Forum[10] (1995), at the Royal Festival Hall, and Britain's first major conference on black British writing, Tracing Paper (1997), at the Museum of London.

Evaristo has received more than 80 honours, awards, fellowships, nominations and other tokens of recognition. She is a lifetime Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, University of Oxford, and an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2021, she succeeded Sir Richard Eyre as President of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, completing her four-year tenure in 2024 and succeeded by the actor Ray Fearon. Evaristo was vice-chair of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) and in 2020 she became a lifetime vice-president, before becoming the RSL's president (2022–2026).[11] She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's 2009 Birthday Honours, and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's 2020 Birthday Honours,[12] both awards for services to literature.

  1. ^ Richardson, Hollie. "Desert Island Discs: 5 things we learned about Girl, Woman, Other author Bernardine Evaristo". Stylist. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  2. ^ Flood, Alison (4 December 2019). "'Another author': outrage after BBC elides Bernardine Evaristo's Booker win". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  3. ^ Middleton, Lucy (15 October 2019). "First Black woman to receive Booker Prize describes joint win as 'bittersweet'". Metro. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  4. ^ Evaristo, Bernardine (19 October 2019). "Bernardine Evaristo: 'These are unprecedented times for black female writers'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  5. ^ de León, Concepción (1 November 2019). "Booker Prize Winner 'Girl, Woman, Other' Is Coming to America". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  6. ^ Brunel International African Poetry Prize Archived 29 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine website.
  7. ^ "The Complete Works". Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  8. ^ "About Us" Archived 6 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Spread the Word.
  9. ^ "Theatre of Black Women" Archived 30 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Unfinished Histories: Recording the History of Alternative Theatre. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Black Theatre Forum". Black Plays Archive. National Theatre.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Bernardine Evaristo Announced as New President of the RSL". The Royal Society of Literature. 30 November 2021. Archived from the original on 26 April 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  12. ^ "No. 63135". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 October 2020. p. B12.


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