Bernardine Evaristo OBE

Bernardine Evaristo has published ten books of fiction, verse and non-fiction. In 2019 she was announced as the co-winner, alongside Margaret Atwood, of the Booker Prize, for her novel 'Girl, Woman, Other.' Bernardine was the first black woman and black British person to win the award.

Evaristo was born in Woolwich to an English mother and a Nigerian father. She was educated at Eltham Hill Girls’ Grammar School, the Rose Bruford College of Speech & Drama (where she is currently President) and Goldsmiths, University of London, where she earned her PhD in Creative Writing.

She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and President of the Royal Society of Literature, the first black woman to assume the role in its 200-year history.

She was awarded an MBE in 2009 and an OBE in 2020, both for services to literature.

In 2022, Goldsmiths awarded Bernardine Evaristo an honorary fellowship.