Bernardine Evaristo

Bernardine Evaristo, born in 1959, is a distinguished English author and Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University of London. She is set to serve as the Visiting Professor of Creative Media at the University of Oxford for the academic year 2025/6. Evaristo made history in 2019 when her novel, Girl, Woman, Other, won the Booker Prize, making her the first black woman to achieve this honor. The novel has garnered numerous accolades, including two British Book awards, also known as the 'Nibbies'.

In recognition of her contributions to literature, Evaristo was awarded the Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution Award in 2025, a special honor celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the Women's Prize for Fiction. She has also held the prestigious position of President of the Royal Society of Literature for four years, becoming the second woman and the first Black or Asian individual to do so since the society's inception in 1820. Upon completing her term in 2025, she was named President Emerita.

A passionate advocate for diversity in the arts, Evaristo co-founded the writer development agency Spread the Word in 1995 and was instrumental in establishing Britain's first black women's theatre company, Theatre of Black Women, from 1982 to 1988. She organized significant conferences such as Future Histories in 1995 and Tracing Paper in 1997, which focused on black theatre and black British writing, respectively. Evaristo also founded the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, which evolved into the Evaristo African Poetry Prize in 2023, and initiated The Complete Works mentoring scheme for poets of color from 2007 to 2017.

In 2024, she launched the RSL Scriptorium Awards, providing a writing retreat for ten struggling UK writers annually, and in 2025, she established the RSL Pioneer Prize, aimed at recognizing women writers over sixty. Evaristo's commitment to literature has earned her over ninety honors and awards, with her works being named Book of the Year more than sixty times. She is a lifetime Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, and an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.