The character arc of Bernardine Evaristo
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 28 May 1959 in Eltham, London. Between then and now sit grammar school from 1970, Rose Bruford College in 1982, the Theatre of Black Women co-founded in the same year, Spread the Word in 1995, a first book in 1994, an MBE in 2009, a Brunel professorship in 2011, a Goldsmiths doctorate in 2013, the Booker Prize in 2019, an OBE in 2020 and the Royal Society of Literature presidency from 2021. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Bernardine Evaristo?
The eighth book won it.
She went to Eltham Hill Grammar School for Girls from 1970 to 1977 and graduated from Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in 1982. In the same year, at twenty three, she co-founded the Theatre of Black Women, because the parts she wanted to act did not exist and somebody had to write them.
The books came steadily and without much fuss: Island of Abraham in 1994, Lara in 1997, The Emperor's Babe in 2001, Soul Tourists in 2005, Blonde Roots in 2008, Hello Mum in 2010 and Mr Loverman in 2013. That is twenty five years of serious work and seven books, admired within the trade and largely unnoticed outside it. She co-founded the writer development agency Spread the Word in 1995, became professor of creative writing at Brunel University London in 2011, and took her own doctorate in creative writing at Goldsmiths in 2013, at fifty four.
Girl, Woman, Other, published in 2019, shared the Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood. She was sixty, and it was her eighth book. Manifesto: On Never Giving Up followed in 2021, which is exactly the title that line earns. She was appointed MBE in 2009 and OBE in 2020, was president of Rose Bruford College from 2021 to 2024 and of the Royal Society of Literature from 2021 to 2025, and received the Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution Award in 2025.
The moments
Bernardine Evaristo's timeline.
The 1970s
Eltham Hill Grammar School
Milestone. Seven years at a London grammar school, in the borough she was born in.
The 1980s
Wait for the parts, or make them
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: found a company, taken, or audition and wait. It set the habit of making the thing rather than waiting for it, which carried through eight books to the Booker Prize.
A theatre company at twenty three
Milestone, and it changed everything. The parts she wanted did not exist, so she co-founded a company to make them.
The 1990s
A first book
Milestone, and it changed her direction. A first book at thirty five, and then another three years later.
Spread the Word
Milestone, and it changed her direction. An agency to bring other writers through, built while her own career was still small.
The 2000s
The Emperor's Babe
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Three books in seven years, admired inside the trade and largely unnoticed outside it.
An MBE
Milestone. A first honour, fifteen years after the first book.
The 2010s
A professorship at Brunel
Milestone, and it changed her direction. A chair in creative writing, before she had taken a doctorate in it.
A doctorate at fifty four
Milestone, and it changed everything. Her own doctorate at fifty four, two years after being made a professor.
The Booker Prize
Milestone, and it changed everything. Sixty years old, eighth book, and the biggest prize in British fiction.
The 2020s
Manifesto
Milestone, and it changed everything. A title that this line earns more than most.
Two presidencies
Milestone, and it changed her direction. President of the college she graduated from, and of the Royal Society of Literature.
Her story carries on, forty years in and still publishing, drawn now rather than at the prize. What it has set moving is the plainest argument against giving up: seven books almost nobody noticed, and then the eighth one won the Booker Prize.
What she wrote
Books by Bernardine Evaristo
- 1997
Lara
A verse novel drawing on her own family history, expanded in 2009.
- 2001
The Emperor's Babe
A verse novel set in Roman London, which is not a setting anybody else was using.
- 2008
Blonde Roots
A novel that inverts the Atlantic slave trade, and one of her boldest formal experiments.
- 2013
Mr Loverman
A seventy four year old man in Hackney, and the book that first reached a wide readership.
- 2019
Girl, Woman, Other
Twelve linked lives, mostly of black British women. It shared the Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood.
- 2021
Manifesto
On never giving up. A memoir about forty years of work before the prize, and exactly the title her line earns.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
Hers took forty years and seven books before the one everybody knows. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Bernardine Evaristo: frequently asked questions
What people ask about her line.
What is Bernardine Evaristo's character arc?
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What is Bernardine Evaristo's Theatre of Black Women?
Where did Bernardine Evaristo study?
What honours has Bernardine Evaristo received?
Where does this timeline of Bernardine Evaristo's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with her.
Sources
- Bernardine Evaristo, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- The Booker Prize Foundation, 2019, shared award.
- Publisher records for Girl, Woman, Other and Manifesto: On Never Giving Up.