Bernardine Evaristo wins Booker
British-Nigerian writer Bernardine Evaristo was announced as joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction at a ceremony in London on 14 October 2019. Her novel, Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin, 2019), was joint winner with Margaret Atwood's The Testaments. The judges broke the rules by choosing to award the prize jointly to two winners for the first time in almost 30 years. Evaristo became the first black woman to win the Booker since it began in 1969 and the first black British author.
The news came ten years after the republication by Bloodaxe of Bernardine Evaristo's debut verse novel Lara (1997, 2009). This powerful semi-autobiographical novel-in-verse based on Bernardine Evaristo’s own childhood and family history. The eponymous Lara is a mixed-race girl raised during the 60s and 70s in Woolwich, then a white suburb of London. In 2019 Bernardine became the inaugural Woolwich Laureate, appointed by the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, serving what is now a multicultural community.
Bernardine Evaristo also co-edited the Spread the Word new poets anthology Ten (Bloodaxe Books/The Complete Works, 2010) with Daljit Nagra. She co-founded The Complete Works poets’ mentoring scheme (2007-2017) to redress the under 1% statistic of publications by poets of colour in the UK identified in the Arts Council’s Free Verse report she initiated. This groundbreaking initiative to promote diversity and quality in British poetry has seen 30 poets of colour mentored by many of Britain’s leading poets. The two subsequent Ten anthologies were edited by Karen McCarthy Woolf. Many of the mentored poets published in these three anthologies have gone on to win awards and have their poetry collections published.
Since winning the Booker Prize, Bernardine Evaristo has made countless appearances on TV, Radio and in the press, including as a guest on BBC One's Question Time. She was the guest on the iconic Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs in September 2020.
BBC RADIO 4'S DESERT ISLAND DISCS
Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, Sunday 20 September 2020, 11 am (repeated Friday 25 September, 9am)
Bernardine Evaristo was Lauren Laverne’s guest on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on 20 September 2020.
'Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize in 2019 for her novel, Girl, Woman, Other. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London.,,,Her first poetry collection was published in 1994, followed by a semi-autobiographical verse novel called Lara three years later. More books followed, experimenting with form and narrative perspective, often merging the past with the present, prose with poetry, the factual with the speculative, and reality with alternate realities. Girl, Woman, Other is her eighth book.’
Bernardine spoke about her verse novel Lara, a fictionalised version of her family history, from 17:48 in the BBC Sounds edition.
Listen here.
US TV INTERVIEW WITH BERNARDINE EVARISTO
Amanpour and Company, PBS, Monday 9 December 2019
Seventeen-minute television interview with joint Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo on Amanpour and Company, a new one-hour late-night public affairs series on PBS featuring wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day.
'This year, Bernardine Evaristo became the first black woman – and Britain’s first black author ever – to win the prestigious Booker Prize. She won it jointly with Margaret Atwood, almost forty years since beginning her career as a writer seeking to elevate unheard voices and narratives. She joins Christiane in London to discuss what her win means to her.'
The full interview can be seen via CNN here.
INTERVIEWS WITH BERNARDINE EVARISTO IN THE IRISH TIMES & FINANCIAL TIMES
The Irish Times, Saturday 23 November 2019
Interview with joint Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo in the Irish Times of 23 November. Her backlist titles, including Lara, are discussed, as well as her Booker-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other.
‘After a collection of poems (Island of Abraham), her first novel Lara (1997) was written in verse, and took in her family heritage in England, Nigeria, Ireland, Germany and Brazil.’
Read the interview here.
The Financial Times, Saturday 19 October 2019
Interview with Bernardine Evaristo in the Financial Times. Included a bibliography panel featuring her second publication Lara: ‘1997 Lara (ARP; expanded and revised version published by Bloodaxe in 2009). Evaristo’s first verse novel is based on her family history, taking in seven generations and travelling between England, Nigeria, Ireland, Germany and Brazil.’
‘Evaristo was born in London in 1959, the fourth of eight children to a British mother and Nigerian father and grew up in the capital. She published her first book, Lara, in 1997 and is the author of eight works of fiction and verse fiction that play with form and style.’ - Frederick Studemann, Financial Times
Click here to read.
BBC RADIO 4 PROFILE OF BERNARDINE EVARISTO
Profile: Bernardine Evaristo, BBC Radio 4, Saturday 19 October 2019, 7pm, repeated Sunday 20 October at 5.45am and 5.40pm
Bernardine Evaristo was the subject of Radio 4’s Profile on 19 October. Her husband, mother and sister Cathy were all interviewed for this 15-minute profile. The Complete Works and her semi-autobiographical first novel Lara were discussed from 8:15.
‘Bernardine Evaristo is the first black British woman to win the Booker Prize. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other shared the 2019 award with Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. Mark Coles has been finding out about Evaristo's life as an activist, actor and writer.’
Click here to listen. Lara was discussed from 8:15.
GUARDIAN ARTICLE BY BERNARDINE EVARISTO
The Guardian, Saturday 19 October 2019
An article by Bernardine Evaristo in The Guardian of 19 October is here. As part of this wide-ranging piece, Bernardine mentions The Complete Works mentoring scheme which she founded. Three anthologies including work of those 30 mentored poets have been published by Bloodaxe in the Ten series, the first of which was co-edited by Bernardine.
‘Many of us have campaigned to improve access to publishing and the arts industry for people of colour for decades, and we are finally seeing the results. I founded The Complete Works poetry mentoring scheme (2007–17), which selected 30 poets to be mentored by many of Britain’s leading poets in order to redress the fact that less than 1% of poetry books published in the UK were by poets of colour. Now that proportion stands at 16% and the mentored poets are winning many top poetry and literature awards.’ – Bernardine Evaristo, The Guardian
[22 October 2019]
