A longstanding advocate and activist for inclusion in literature and the arts, including initiating many successful projects to address under-representation.
(Selected)
2024: Founder of the (Royal Society of Literature) RSL Scriptorium Awards offering ten writers a year her cottage on the Kent coast as a writers’ retreat for free. They will each have the cottage to themselves. Open for applications: April 2025
2023: Curator of a third set of re-issued books for the Black Britain: Writing Back series, both by black Welsh Writers: Sugar and Slate by Charlotte Williams and Dat’s Love by Leonora Brito. Each book has an introduction by myself. A total of eleven books have been published thus far.
2022: Curator of the second set of books, all non-fiction, for the Black Britain: Writing Back series with Hamish Hamilton/Penguin UK. A Black Boy at Eton by Dillibe Onyeama; Growing Out: Black Hair and Black Pride in the Sixties by Barbara Blake Hannah; Britons Through Negro Spectacles by A.B.C. Merriman-Labor; Sequins for a Ragged Hem by Amryl Johnson, and My Father’s Daughter by Hannah Azieb Pool. Each book has an introduction by Bernardine.
2021: Curator of Black Britain: Writing Back books series with Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House, bringing back out-of-circulation books into print. There are 13 books republished as of 2024. The first six books, novels, were published in February 2021. These titles are Minty Alley (1936) by C. L. R. James; Incomparable World (1996) by S.I. Martin; Without Prejudice (1997) by Nicola Williams; The Dancing Face (1997) by Mike Phillips; Bernard and the Cloth Monkey (1998) by Judith Bryan, and The Fat Lady Sings (2000) by Jacqueline Roy. Each book has an introduction by Bernardine.
2021-23: In her capacity as the Sky Arts Ambassador for Literature, initiated the Sky Arts RSL Writer’s Awards, whereby new writers of colour are mentored by five leading writers over a year. (RSL = Royal Society of Literature.)
2021: Initiated and funded the Bernardine Evaristo Creative Writing Scholarship at Brunel University.
2012-2022: Founded the 3K Brunel International African Poetry Prize with the aim of developing poetry from Africa at a time when few African poets were getting published. In 2022 the Prize was taken over by the African Poetry Book Fund (University of Nebraska) and renamed the Evaristo African Poetry Prize. Many of the nominated and winning poets have gone on to become leading figures in global poetry: https://www.africanpoetryprize.org/previous-shortlists
2007: Founded The Complete Works (2007-2017), a mentoring programme for poets of colour that saw thirty poets mentored by many of Britain’s leading poets, led by Dr Nathalie Teitler. Most of the mentored poets have now published critically-acclaimed poetry books and since the scheme won numerous awards and honours including the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award three times, the Forward prizes four times and the TS Eliot Award for Poetry twice. Poets on the scheme include: Mona Arshi, Raymond Antrobus, Rowyda Amin, Jay Bernard, Leo Boix, Malika Booker, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Kayo Chinongyi, Rishi Dastidar, Edward Doegar, Inua Ellams, Will Harris, Sarah Howe, Ian Humphries, Jennifer Lee Tsai, Adam Lowe, Mir Mahfuz Ali, Karen McCarthy-Woolf, Nick Makoha, Mir Mahfuz Ali, Momtaza Mehri, Roger Robinson, Shazea Quarashi, Denise Saul, Yomi Sode and Warsan Shire
2006: Initiated the Free Verse report into the lack of publishing opportunities for poets of colour in the UK, which revealed that under 1% of all poetry books were written by poets of colour. This was commissioned by Arts Council London and produced by Spread the Word Literature Development Agency.
1997: Initiated and organised Tracing Paper for Spread the Word, the first conference on black British writing, held at the Museum of London.
1996-7: Iniatiated Afro Style School, a series of weekend workshops for poets of colour.
1995: Founding Director of Spread the Word (1995-ongoing) literature development agency with Ruth Borthwick, committed to providing a wide range of top quality creative writing workshops, courses and talk shops, especially aimed at groups under-represented in literature. I also organised the seminal Afro Style School series of workshops for poets of colour.
1995: Initiated and organised Future Histories for the Black Theatre Forum, the first major conference on black theatre in Britain, held at the South Bank Centre, London.
1982: Co-founded Theatre of Black Women (1982-1988) Britain’s first black women’s theatre company, to give artistic control to black women in theatre. My co- founders were fellow Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama graduates Patricia St. Hilaire and Paulette Randall.
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