Bernardine Evaristo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bernardine Evaristo
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Evaristo in 2018
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| Born |
Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo
28 May 1959 Eltham, London, England
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| Education | Eltham Hill Grammar School for Girls |
| Alma mater | Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama; Goldsmiths College, University of London |
| Occupation | Novelist, critic, poet, playwright, academic |
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Notable work
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Lara (1997) The Emperor's Babe (2001) Girl, Woman, Other (2019) |
| Spouse(s) | David Shannon |
| Awards | Booker Prize, 2019 Indie Book Award for Fiction 2020 British Book Awards: Fiction and Author of the Year 2020 |
Bernardine Evaristo (born 28 May 1959) is a famous English writer and professor. She made history in 2019 when her novel Girl, Woman, Other won the Booker Prize. She was the first Black woman to ever win this important award.
Bernardine Evaristo is also a Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London. She is the President of the Royal Society of Literature, which is a very old and respected group for writers. She is the first Black person and only the second woman to lead this group since it started in 1820. She works hard to make sure that many different kinds of writers and artists are included and heard.
Contents
About Bernardine Evaristo
Bernardine Evaristo has received more than 80 awards and special recognitions for her work. She was given an award called the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2020 for her services to literature. This means she was honored for her great contributions to writing.
Her early life
Bernardine Evaristo was born in Eltham, a part of south-east London. She grew up in Woolwich as one of eight children. Her mother was English, and her father was from Nigeria. Her father was a welder and later became the first Black councillor in the area.
When she was 12, Bernardine joined the Greenwich Young People's Theatre. She has said this experience was very important for her. It helped her decide to spend her life working in the arts. She later studied at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama.
In the 1980s, Bernardine helped start Theatre of Black Women. This was the first theatre company of its kind in Britain. She also helped organize the first big conferences about Black British writing and theatre in the 1990s. In 1995, she co-founded Spread the Word, an agency that helps writers develop their skills. She also earned her doctorate in creative writing in 2013 from Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Her books and writing
Bernardine Evaristo has written many books, including novels and poetry. Her stories often explore the lives of people from the African diaspora. This means people of African origin who live in different parts of the world. She likes to try new ways of writing. She often mixes the past with the present, and fiction with poetry.
One of her well-known books is The Emperor's Babe (2001). It's a verse novel, which means it's a story told mostly through poetry. It's about a Black teenage girl living in Roman London almost 2,000 years ago. This book was even made into a play for BBC Radio 4.
Her novel Blonde Roots (2008) is a clever story that flips history around. In this book, Africans are the ones who enslave Europeans. It won several awards and was nominated for others.
Another important book is Lara (2009). This book tells a fictional story about her own family history. It goes back over 150 years and includes her childhood in a mixed-race family in London.
Her novel Mr Loverman (2013) is about an older Caribbean man living in London. He is secretly gay and thinking about his life after 50 years of marriage. This book won awards for LGBT fiction.
The book that made her even more famous is Girl, Woman, Other (2019). This novel tells the stories of 12 different Black British women. They are all different ages and come from various backgrounds. The book shows their hopes, struggles, and how their lives connect. It was chosen as one of Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019.
In 2020, Girl, Woman, Other became the first book by a Black woman and Black British writer to reach number one on the UK paperback fiction charts. It stayed there for five weeks!
Bernardine Evaristo has also written short stories, plays, and essays. Her memoir, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up, was published in 2021. It shares her personal journey and how she never gave up on her dreams.
Helping other writers
Bernardine Evaristo has done a lot to help other writers. She started the Brunel University African Poetry Prize to support African poets. She also created "The Complete Works" program, which helped mentor poets of color.
She has been a judge for many important literary awards, including the Caine Prize for African Writing and the Women's Prize for Fiction. She also helps choose books to be reprinted that were written by Black British authors in the past. This helps new readers discover these important stories.
Teaching and public speaking
Bernardine Evaristo has taught creative writing since 1994. She is a Professor at Brunel University London. She travels around the world to give talks and workshops about writing. She encourages publishers to hire more people from different backgrounds. She believes this will help them find and publish more diverse stories.
Personal life
Bernardine Evaristo is married to writer David Shannon. They met in 2006.
Awards and recognition
Bernardine Evaristo has received many honors for her writing and her work in the arts. Some of the most important include:
- 2004: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- 2009: Awarded an MBE for her services to Literature
- 2019: Won the Booker Prize for Girl, Woman, Other
- 2020: Awarded an OBE for her services to literature
- 2020: Named Author of the Year at the British Book Awards
- 2022: Appointed President of the Royal Society of Literature
Books
- 1994: Island of Abraham (poems)
- 1997: Lara (novel)
- 2001: The Emperor's Babe (verse novel)
- 2005: Soul Tourists (novel)
- 2008: Blonde Roots (novel)
- 2010: Hello Mum (novella)
- 2013: Mr Loverman (novel)
- 2019: Girl, Woman, Other (novel)
- 2021: Manifesto: On Never Giving Up (memoir)
- 2021: Feminism
