Bernardine Evaristo’s Path to Success
At The New Yorker, Anna Russell speaks with Bernardine Evaristo about her new memoir, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up. Evaristo reflects on early days of literary experimenting and writing “fusion fiction;” her leaving and reentering the heterosexual dating scene and eventually meeting her husband on a dating app; and her many years of living paycheck to paycheck.
When asked why she thought it had taken so long for her to find a wide readership, Evaristo was diplomatic, pointing out that though it had been a long wait for her, some women of color had risen faster. “There are always exceptions,” Evaristo says.
Emma Paterson, Evaristo’s agent, adds that, “there’s a myth in British publishing, which is overwhelmingly white, that books about Black British characters—Black British women—don’t sell, and that Evaristo has, “had to work her way through glass walls.”