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BBC News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bernardine Evaristo 'astonished' to receive one-off Women's Prize for outstanding contribution
Trailblazing author Bernardine Evaristo has said she is "astonished" to have been honoured with a one-off outstanding contribution award to mark the 30th anniversary of the Women's Prize for who was the first black woman to win the prestigious Booker Prize when the award was shared with Margaret Atwood in 2019, told the BBC: "This [prize] wasn't on anyone's radar... I feel very blessed."The accolade is in honour of her career's work - which includes her Booker-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other - and her long-running advocacy for inclusion and diversity in the will receive £100,000 prize money and a sculpture. Both will be presented on 12 June at a ceremony in London, where the winners of the 2025 Women's Prizes for Fiction and Non-Fiction will also be said she would put the prize money into a project to support other women writers, and will give more details in the autumn."I'm not doing it because I'm a multi-millionaire," she joked. "It just feels right to put back in. We should support each other."The writer said it was "incredibly validating" that her advocacy work had been recognised by the Women's Prize body."Women's fiction was in a very bad place when it [the Prize charity] began. Every year it's shone a light... and helped to amplify women's voices." Evaristo co-founded Britain's first black women's theatre company, Theatre of Black Women, which ran from 1982 to also set up the Spread the Word writers' development agency, the Complete Works mentoring scheme for poets of colour, and the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, among other projects. She was made an MBE in 2009 for services to 66-year-old said she began her activism work in the 1980s "simply because there was a need for it"."At that time, it's not something I saw as separate to my creativity. I did it because I knew I wanted to take responsibility, to be the change I wanted to see. I did it because it needed to be done."It's important not to rest on your laurels because "if we don't keep up momentum, the status quo might close in on itself again", she said."It's not something where we can say 'We've achieved this, we can drop it'."She said there was a current "backlash against freedoms women had earned over a century"."There is always the risk of a backlash." She wouldn't be drawn on her next writing project because "it's not wise to announce things prematurely", but she said she still has time to juggle both her writing and her activism work."I've been here a long time... I've had a long time to get things done! My main focus is my writing. I'm a writer who has to juggle lots of things... to create tensions. That's how I work."I'm good at compartmentalising. But I do work all the time. My husband and I have been together 18 years and we went on our first holiday three years ago!"But she said that's because "I enjoy what I do"."I work weekends, there's no distinction between weekdays and the weekend. I don't need to drag myself away from what I do. It's positive energy." The Women's Prize Trust says it aims to celebrate and amplify women's voices; open up writing as a viable career for women from all backgrounds; and promote original judging panel for the contribution award included critic and writer Bonnie Greer, broadcaster Vick Hope, and author Kate said in statement: "Bernardine Evaristo's beautiful, ambitious and inventive body of work, her dazzling skill and imagination, and her courage to take risks and offer readers a pathway into diverse and multifarious worlds over a 40-year career, made her the ideal recipient."Significantly, Evaristo has consistently used her own magnificent achievements and exceptional talent as a springboard to create opportunities for others, to promote unheard and under-heard women's voices and to ensure that every female writer feels she has a conduit for her talent." Trailblazing talent Evaristo was born the fourth of eight children in Woolwich, south east London, to an English mother and a Nigerian father. Her father was a welder and local Labour councillor; her mother was a spent her teenage years at Greenwich Young People's Theatre and went on to study at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she earned her PhD in creative is currently president of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) and a professor of creative writing at Brunel University, other creative works include her 2013 novel Mr Loverman, about an elderly man whose marriage falls apart after his long-term affair with his male was adapted for a BBC drama series starring Lennie James, and recently picked up two major acting prizes at the Bafta TV other books include satirical novel Blonde Roots and a memoir, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up.
The Independent
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Writer Bernardine Evaristo receives lifetime accolade for a career of breaking boundaries
Bernardine Evaristo doesn't like boundaries. For the Booker Prize -winning novelist, rules about genre, grammar or what a working-class biracial woman can achieve are all to be challenged and swept away. Evaristo was announced Wednesday as recipient of the 100,000-pound ($135,000) Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution Award for her 'transformative impact on literature and her unwavering dedication to uplifting under-represented voices." Evaristo, 66, received the prize both for her work to help promote women and writers of color, and for writing that takes in poetry, a memoir and seven novels including the Booker-winning 'Girl, Woman, Other.' 'I just go wherever my imagination takes me,' she said. 'I didn't want to write the kind of novels that would take you on a predictable emotional or moral journey.' An eclectic output Evaristo had already explored autobiographical fiction, historical settings and alternate realities when she won the Booker in 2019 for 'Girl Woman, Other,' a polyphonic novel told from the point of view of a dozen characters, largely Black women, with widely varying ages, experiences and sexualities. She was the first woman of African heritage to be awarded the prize, which was founded in 1969 and has a reputation for transforming writers' careers. When she won, Evaristo was 60 and had been a writer for decades. She says the recognition 'came at the right time for me.' 'Maybe I wouldn't have handled it so well if I was younger,' she told The Associated Press at her London home. 'It changed my career –- in terms of book sales, foreign rights, translation, the way in which I was viewed as a writer. Various other opportunities came my way. And I felt that I had the foundations to handle that.' Evaristo's house on a quiet suburban street is bright and comfortable, with wooden floors, vibrant textiles and a large wooden writing desk by the front window. Large photos of her Nigerian paternal grandparents hang on one wall. Her work often draws on her roots as the London-born child of a Nigerian father and white British mother. Like much of Evaristo's work, 'Girl, Woman, Other' eludes classification. She calls it 'fusion fiction' for its melding of poetry and prose into a novel that relishes the texture and rhythm of language. 'I kind of dispense with the rules of grammar,' she said. 'I think I have 12 full stops in the novel.' If that sounds dauntingly experimental, readers didn't think so. 'Girl, Woman, Other' has sold more than 1 million copies and was chosen as one of Barack Obama's books of the year. Passion for poetry Evaristo traces her love of poetry to the church services of her Catholic childhood, where she soaked up the rhythms of the Bible and sermons, 'without realizing I was absorbing poetry.' When she started writing novels, the love of poetry remained, along with a desire to tell stories of the African diaspora. One of her first major successes, 'The Emperor's Babe,' is a verse novel set in Roman Britain. 'Most people think the Black history of Britain only began in the 20th century,' Evaristo said. 'I wanted to write about a Black presence in Roman Britain -– because there was a Black presence in Roman Britain 1,800 years ago.' Another novel, 'Blonde Roots,' is set in an alternative historical timeline in which Africans have enslaved Europeans, and was nominated for a major science-fiction award. 'Mr Loverman,' which centers on a closeted gay 70-something Antiguan Londoner, was an attempt to move beyond cliched images of Britain's postwar Caribbean immigrants. It was recently made into a BBC television series starring Lennie James and Sharon D. Clarke. Levelling the playing field Her latest award is a one-off accolade marking the 30th anniversary of the annual Women's Prizes for English-language fiction and nonfiction. Women's Prize founder Kate Mosse said Evaristo's 'dazzling skill and imagination, and her courage to take risks and offer readers a pathway into diverse and multifarious worlds over a 40-year career made her the ideal recipient.' Evaristo, who teaches creative writing at Brunel University of London, plans to use the prize money to help other women writers through an as-yet undisclosed project. She has long been involved with projects to level the playing field for under-represented writers, and is especially proud of Complete Works, a mentoring program for poets of color that she ran for a decade. 'I set that up because I initiated research into how many poets of color were getting published in Britain at that time, and it was under 1%' of the total, she said. A decade later, it was 10%. "It really has helped shift the poetry landscape in the U.K.," she said. Partial progress Evaristo followed 'Girl, Woman, Other' with 'Manifesto,' a memoir that recounts the stark racism of her 1960s London childhood, as well as her lifelong battle for creative expression and freedom. If Evaristo grew up as an outsider, these days she is ensconced in the arts establishment: professor, Booker winner, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, and president of the 200-year-old Royal Society of Literature. That milestone -– she's the first person of color and the second woman to head the RSL -– has not been trouble-free. The society has been ruffled by free speech tows and arguments over attempts to bring in younger writers and diversify its ranks -– moves seen by some as watering down the accolade of membership. Evaristo doesn't want to talk about the controversy, but notes that as figurehead president she does not run the society. She says Britain has come a long way since her childhood but 'we have to be vigilant.' 'The country I grew up in is not the country I'm in today,' she said. 'We've made a lot of progress, and I feel that we need to work hard to maintain it, especially in the current political climate where it feels as if the forces are against progress, and proudly so. 'Working towards an anti-racist society is something that we should value, and I hope we do, and that we don't backslide too much.'
The Guardian
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bernardine Evaristo scoops Women's prize outstanding contribution award
Bernardine Evaristo is to receive £100,000 after being announced as the winner of the Women's prize outstanding contribution award, a one-off prize to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Women's prize for fiction. The author of Girl, Woman, Other and Mr Loverman has been rewarded for her entire body of work, as well as her 'transformative impact on literature and her unwavering dedication to uplifting under-represented voices across the cultural landscape'. The Booker-winning writer co-founded Britain's first black women's theatre company more than 40 years ago, and has published acclaimed writing across multiple genres. In 2022 she was elected president of the Royal Society of Literature, becoming the first writer of colour and only the second woman to hold the position. Throughout her career, Evaristo has launched several successful writing schemes designed to support female writers and under-represented writers of colour, most recently launching the RSL Scriptorium awards, which give 10 writers a year the opportunity to use her Kent cottage for a writing retreat. 'I am completely overwhelmed and overjoyed to receive this unique award,' Evaristo said. 'Over the last three decades, I have witnessed with great admiration and respect how the Women's prize for fiction has so bravely and brilliantly championed and developed women's writing, always from an inclusive stance.' She said the prize money was 'an unexpected blessing in my life' and 'it seems fitting that I spend this substantial sum supporting other women writers'. Details on how she will do that will follow, she said. Funded by Bukhman Philanthropies, the prize is designed to reflect the founding principles of the Women's prize for fiction, 'to celebrate and amplify women's voices; to open the pathways into writing as a viable career choice for women from all backgrounds; and to shine a spotlight on exceptional, original books for readers to discover and enjoy.' As well as the prize money, Evaristo will receive a sculpture named Thoughtful by the artist Caroline Russell, to be awarded on 12 June when the winners of the Women's prizes for fiction and nonfiction will also be revealed. The judging panel was chaired by the author and Women's prize founder Kate Mosse, who was joined by a selection of former Women's prize for fiction judges: the academic and writer Gillian Beer; the writer and activist Scarlett Curtis; the playwright and author Bonnie Greer; and the broadcaster Vick Hope. To be eligible for the prize, authors had to have published at least five books and been previously longlisted for the Women's prize for fiction. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Mosse said Evaristo's 'beautiful, ambitious and inventive body of work' as well as her 'dazzling skill and imagination' made her 'the ideal recipient' of the one-off award. 'Significantly, Evaristo has consistently used her own magnificent achievements and exceptional talent as a springboard to create opportunities for others, to promote unheard and under-heard women's voices and to ensure that every female writer feels she has a conduit for her talent,' she said.
