Bernardine Evaristo Makes List for 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction

Nigerian-born-British author, Bernardine Evaristo has been longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her book Girl, Woman, Other.

The novel, which won her the Booker Prize for Fiction in 2019, revolves around the lives of Black British women.

The book has no overarching story. Instead, each chapter of the book follows the life of one of the 12 characters (mostly black women) as they negotiate the world.

Although each character has their own chapter set across a particular time in an almost anthological manner, their lives intertwine in numerous ways; from friends and relatives to chance acquaintances.

Some of the themes explored in the characters’ lives are feminism, politics, patriarchy, success, relationships, and sexuality. Asked about her motivations in writing the work, Evaristo said:

“I wanted to put presence into absence. It was very frustrating that black British women weren’t visible in literature. I whittled it down to 12 characters – I wanted them to span from a teenager to someone in their 90s, and see their trajectory from birth, though not linear.

“There are many ways in which otherness can be interpreted in the novel – the women are othered in so many ways and sometimes by each other. I wanted it to be identified as a novel about women as well.”

Critics have adjudged Girl, Woman, Other as ‘ambitious’ and ‘linguistically inventive.’

Other nominees

The 16-strong longlist for this year’s prize includes big names; including two-time Booker Prize winner Hillary Mantel for her novel ‘The Mirror and the Light’; which is still in the works and is the final installation in her trilogy.

Also making the list is previous Women’s Prize winner Ann Patchet for The Dutch House; as well as bestselling author Anne Enright for Actress.

Evaristo is the only African on the list. Last year saw Oyinkan Braithwaite, Diana Evans and Akwaeke Emeze make the longlist.

If Bernardine Evaristo wins on April 22, she would be the first author to ever win both the Booker and Women’s Prize.