The University of Reading is set to host the first academic conference dedicated to the work of writer Bernardine Evaristo on November 6, 2025. The organizers have put out a call for papers with a submissions deadline of April 16, 2025.

The symposium invites paper submissions dealing with any aspect of Evaristo’s writing and work. Potential topics include: the African diaspora and/or AfroEurope, Black British culture, history, and literature, literary activism, influences, reception, and formal experimentation.

Paper proposals are encouraged from all scholarly disciplines, methodological approaches, and theoretical perspectives, and presenters of all career stages are welcome – especially Early Career Researchers. Proposals for poster presentations are also invited.

Selected papers from the symposium will be published as Bernardine Evaristo: Critical Essays, with a foreword by Evaristo, as part of the Routledge Contemporary Writers: Critical Essays book series (General Editor: Professor Sarah Dillon, University of Cambridge) which looks at contemporary Anglophone writers whose work is popularly and critically valued but on whom a significant body of academic criticism has yet to be established. This publication is subject to approval of the book proposal via the usual Routledge processes.

Bernardine Evaristo gained global recognition when her novel Girl, Woman, Other won the Booker Prize in 2019, making her the first Black woman and Black British person to win the award. Evaristo, who has authored ten books and numerous works across various genres, is known for her politically engaged writing on the African diaspora. Her books have been translated into more than 40 languages. A vocal advocate for writers of color, Evaristo became President of the Royal Society of Literature in 2021 and is also a professor at Brunel University.

This symposium honors Evaristo’s work and influence as one of the most important living writers today.

Submission Guidelines

Please send an abstract (300 words for a 20 minute paper; 150 words for a poster) and title along with your name, institutional affiliation (if relevant), and a short biography (100 words) to: Dr Nicola Abram (University of Reading) at [email protected] by 16 April 2025. Decisions will be communicated by mid May. See the full call for papers here.