Celebrating Impact (1)- Bernardine Evaristo

Introduction

With Black British success stories being rather sparse, most of the celebrated Black Britons tend to be famous ones who have advanced in their own field through their hard work and overcoming obstacles. Often they attract attention mainly for being famous. However, this new Black History Month tribute aims to highlight people, of any colour or creed, who have made a genuine difference to the Black community with their actions in significant ways. Mary Seacole, the pioneering nurse from Jamaica who stamped her presence on the Crimean War, is the epitome of what this tribute is about. Her impressive and empowering statue outside St Thomas' Hospital (by Martin Jennings) forms part of the logo, to ensure she is always seen.

In my own small way, I wanted to give something back to the community through my extensive knowledge and writing skills, hence this list represents my own highly indulgent personal choices! Twelve outstanding changemakers will be highlighted each month to give a different perspective to celebrating success, inclusivity and genuine partnership, with every October emphasising Black contribution and achievement, and each March focusing on women and their presence. People whose brave and unselfish actions have made a huge impact on our world; role models with whom I either interacted, or who left a lasting impression on me.

This pen portrait is not meant to be comprehensive, but more of a snapshot to give a flavour of the real person being featured and raise awareness of their presence and activities. Feel free to suggest anyone you believe should be included in the future.

Tribute 1 - Bernardine Evaristo

Described as a 'British author and academic' in Wikipedia, Bernardine can take complete credit for the sale of at least three books by other authors because, thanks to her curating their books and bringing them afresh to public attention, I was encouraged to go out and get myself copies, and they were well worth the money and reading time!

Bernardine is one of a kind, the epitome of a successful person not just enjoying her good fortune, but turning her success into a ladder for other authors to clamber up, too. A very unselfish, empowering , and incredibly talented woman, whose wider success came later in her life (at 60 years old). Bernardine achieved what no other Black female in the UK did - the first one to win the Booker Prize (shared jointly with Margaret Atwood's The Testaments). She had to wait 52 years after the award began for the privilege, but what an impact she has made since then with her very engaging book, Girl, Woman, Other! The novel is a celebration of Black British womanhood, telling the stories of 12 different women, all of whom are interconnected, and with a surprising twist at the end. She has taken the literary world by storm, while using her platform for the benefit of others.

I have to confess that, even though she had clearly been making a name for herself with her writing, being the recipient of at least 20 awards or Fellowships up to 2019, I had not heard of her until the Booker Prize, and what a read that was. It was sheer joy to see a different style of book which was so effective in capturing the reader's attention, and very difficult to put down. I marvelled that hadn't she won the accolade, her fascinating stories would not have reached the wider public she deserved because, in 2020, she also won the British Book Awards: Fiction Book of the Year and Author of the Year, as well as the Indie Book Award for Fiction.

Bernardine was born in Woolwich, London, in 1959, of mixed parentage (Nigerian father and English mother). She studied drama at Rose Bruford College and worked as an actress before turning to writing. Written in verse, her critically acclaimed first novel, Lara (1997), traced the roots of a mixed-race family over 150 years. Her subsequent novels, including The Emperor's Babe (2001), Blonde Roots (2009), and Mr Loverman (2013), have continued to explore the primary themes of race, gender, and sexuality. Her work has been praised for its originality, honesty and compassion. Speaking as an older Black woman, too, Bernardine is a true voice of the Black British experience; an inspiration to writers and readers alike.

I became aware of Bernardine Evaisto's other activities after her Booker win when the Guardian published an article in 2021 about her determination "to put UK's forgotten Black writers back in print". She was busy curating a series of books by Black British writers to be republished - a project that aimed to correct 'historic bias' in British publishing and bring a wealth of lost writing back into circulation. She noted the continuing interest in books by African American and African writers, but not as much for Black British writers, a situation she wanted to change.

Named "Black Britain: Writing Back"series, the six initial titles she curated were: Jacqueline Roy's The Fat Lady Sings, SI Martin's Incomparable World, CLR James's Minty Alley, Nicola Williams's Without Prejudice, Judith Bryan's Bernard and the Cloth Monkey and Mike Phillips' The Dancing Face. The series publisher, Hamish Hamilton at Penguin Random House, described the project as a "landmark" publication of "lost or hard-to-find books, now rediscovered, by Black writers who wrote about Black Britain and the diaspora across the last century".

I decided to buy three of the books to see what I had missed first time round, and they did not disappoint. I was glad she had helped to give them new life, considering how little exposure Black writers had received before. A tireless creator and organiser, before this project, she also joined with Ruth Borthwick to create Britain's first Black women's theatre company (1982–1988), as well as organising the first major conference on Black British writing, Tracing Paper (1997), at the Museum of London. More recently, in partnership with Brunel University, she also founded the Brunel International African Poetry Prize.

Bernardine Evaristo has received "more than 77 honours, awards, fellowships, nominations" and other forms of recognition, including a lifetime Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and a lifetime vice-president of the Royal Society of Literature, before becoming its president (2022–2026). Additionally, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2020, by the late Queen, for her services to literature:all richly deserved for her hard work and amazing impact.

Bernardine is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, being a co-founder of the Spread the Word writer development agency. She is also the president of the Royal Society of Literature and a professor of creative writing at Brunel University London.

Next Tribute (2): Marcus Rashford, Footballer