A look at Bernardine Evaristo: Never Give Up

The Booker Prize for Fiction is among the most prestigious awards in the genre, with previous winners including literary giants Julian Barnes and Hilary Mantel. It is about as establishment as it gets.

Yet in 2019, the literary world was rocked when the jury behind that year’s Booker Prize disobeyed a direct warning and split that year’s prize between Canadian writer Margaret Atwood (of The Handmaid’s Tale fame) for The Testaments and British writer Bernardine Evaristo for her novel Girl, Woman, Other.

Jury chair Peter Florence said: “We were told quite firmly that the rules state that you can only have one winner… As we have managed the jury all the way through on the principle of consensus, our consensus was that it was our decision to flout the rules and divide this year’s prize to celebrate two winners.”

It was a historic decision, and made Evaristo the first woman of colour and British Black person to win the prestigious prize. The year after, she also scooped the British Book Awards: Fiction Book of the Year and Author of the Year, as well as the Indie Book Award for Fiction, among many others, proving it was a far from one-off experience.

For some, there’s still a conversation to be had about why she didn’t win outright, but that’s one for another programme. In this edition of the arts show, presenter Alan Yentob explores the Anglo-Nigerian author’s remarkable life and work, bringing her extraordinary talent to potentially a new audience.

Evaristo’s breakthrough novel is a timely exploration of black women’s lives, revealing Britain in ways that have never been told before. She was propelled into the limelight at a relatively late stage of a determinedly unorthodox life and career. From her unusual mixed-race childhood in Woolwich, to establishing the Theatre of Black Women as a young graduate, Evaristo’s fearless approach to life and creativity demonstrates she has always dared to be different.

Her new-found success has also sparked renewed interest and acclaim for her earlier books: from The Emperor’s Babe, set in an exhilarating reimagined Roman London with a sassy young black girl as its central protagonist, to Mr Loverman, the hilarious and heartbreaking story of two septuagenarian homosexual lovers in Hackney, her vibrant and stunningly original back catalogue is now finding excited new audiences across the world.

Her soaring profile has also seen Evaristo seize the opportunity to share the spotlight, bringing authors she feels historically overlooked along with her. Under her curation a pioneering new series called Black Britain: Writing Back is republishing a wide range of significant works by black authors.

She also has the distinction of her novel being one of Barack Obama’s 19 Favourite Books of 2019, and if that doesn’t tell you you’ve arrived, nothing with.

Yentob tries to capture Evaristo’s great wit and wisdom, as she lays bare her unique approach to creativity across the decades.

Featuring contributions from the family members and friends closest to her, alongside other high-profile admirers like Dawn French, Imagine… gets under the skin of one of Britain’s most vital creative voices, as her latest book – an inspirational non-fiction work called Manifesto – is released this autumn.

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