Bernardine Evaristo author page

Bernardine Evaristo biography

Bernardine Evaristo is a British author and academic. She has published novels, poetry, essays, and works for theatre. Evaristo studied at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama. Her debut novel, Lara, appeared in 1997. Subsequent works include The Emperor’s Babe (2001), Blonde Roots (2008), Mr Loverman (2013), and Girl, Woman, Other (2019). Her writing often explores themes of identity, history, and the African diaspora.

Evaristo’s novel Girl, Woman, Other won the Booker Prize in 2019, making her the first Black woman to receive this award. The novel also won the British Book Award for Fiction and the Indie Book Award for Fiction in 2020. Her other works have been shortlisted for the Orange Prize Youth Panel Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, and the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London. Evaristo is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2020 for services to literature. In 2021, she published her memoir, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and is published internationally.

In 2022, Evaristo was elected President of the Royal Society of Literature.