New era for black writers Booker prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo talks to brendaemmanus about reflecting black women characters, being praised by Barack Obama, and why she’s optimistic about the future for black writing
Booker prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo talks to Brenda Emmanus about reflecting black women characters, being praised by Barack Obama, and why she’s optimistic about the future for black writingTHERE IS that smile, Cheshire cat wide and warm, that greets me as I arrive at the West London home of writer Bernadine Evaristo.
“It was difficult growing up in the 60’s and 70’s as a person of colour in a predominantly white area with the in your face racism that my family experienced, but I have never felt powerless because I was always creating and have done what I wanted to do as a writer.” “I would say that with all my books you get a sense of the history of the characters. You get a sense of where they come from and what the journey has been to reach the point where they are at. I am so interested in human psychology which is why I love gossip. I love celebrity gossip’ she reveals, more with a sense of pride than guilt.
It’s a fact when repeated to her reignites that beaming smile: “To be honest, Barack Obama acknowledging my book was perhaps the biggest thrill of my life. I don’t know him, I’ve never met him, I am not in his orbit, but I am a huge fan, and he is still today an important political figure, so I was like a kid at Christmas, so excited!”
“I am privileged now. I have gone from outsider to ultimate insider which has been happening over the course of the decades to be honest, but I am definitely middle class and I am economically and career privileged. I am also mixed-race privileged. “I had been in a very negative relationship where I had lost my agency, so I was aware that I never wanted to get back into that space where I lost myself to someone else’s bigger personality or desires.