Booker Prize–winning author of Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo takes to the stage for a wide-ranging discussion of her fascinating life in letters, spanning fiction, poetry and memoir. Acclaimed for blurring the boundaries of genre while touching on class, gender and sexuality, Bernardine more recently made her non-fiction debut with Manifesto: On Never Giving Up, illuminating her creativity through the prism of her heritage and life. She appears in conversation with Sisonke Msimang about her inspirations, career and hard-won path to artistic achievement.
Supported by ARA. Supported by the British Council. Sisonke Msimang appears thanks to the support of The Salon.
This event is open captioned.
Bernardine Evaristo (International)
Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize 2019 with her eighth book, Girl, Woman, Other, the first black woman and black British person to win it. A #1 Sunday Times bestseller for five weeks, it spent 44 weeks in the Top 10, has sold over a million copies and been a bestseller in many other languages. In 2021, she published a memoir, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up, her first non-fiction book. As an arts activist she has set up many arts inclusion projects and curates a black British literature publishing series with Penguin UK. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London, an Honorary Fellow of St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford, an International Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and President of the Royal Society of Literature – the first person of colour to hold the position since it was founded in 1820.
Sisonke Msimang (Australian)
Sisonke Msimang is the author of two books: Always Another Country: a memoir of exile and home (2017); and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela (2018) and has written for a range of publications including The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian and Newsweek.
