In 2019, British author Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize for her novel “Girl, Woman, Other.” She’s the first Black woman to do so in the award’s 53-year history.
But before that, she had a long career writing plays, poetry, and short stories centered around the African diaspora.
Her new memoir, “Manifesto,” is a story of perseverance:
When I won the Booker Prize in 2019 for my novel Girl, Woman, Other, I became an ‘overnight success’ — after forty years working professionally in the arts. My career hadn’t been without its achievements and recognition, but I wasn’t widely known. The novel became a #1 bestseller sold in many foreign languages and received the kind of attention I had long desired for my work. In countless interviews, I found myself discussing my route to reaching this high point after so long. I said I felt unstoppable, because it struck me that I had been just this, ever since I left my family home at eighteen to make my own way in the world.
We talk with Evaristo about finding her voice and never letting it go.
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