Bernardine Evaristo has been appointed as the 2025–2026 Visiting Professor of Creative Media at the University of Oxford’s Faculty of English. As part of the Professorship, she will deliver a public lecture titled “The Girl from Woolwich: A Creative Life” on 6 May 2026 at 5:30pm at the historic Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, exploring how her creativity was shaped by her origins in London of the 1960s and the choices she has made to sustain a lifelong career as a writer.

For Brittle Paper readers, Evaristo needs little introduction, but the arc of her journey is worth holding. Born in Woolwich, south-east London, to an English mother and a Nigerian father of Nigerian and Brazilian heritage, she went on to become the author of ten books spanning fiction, verse fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, all rooted in her sustained engagement with the African diaspora. She won the Booker Prize in 2019 with Girl, Woman, Other, becoming the first Black woman and Black British person to win it; the novel was translated into nearly forty languages. Her other books include the memoir Manifesto: On Never Giving Up (2021) and Mr Loverman (2013), adapted into a BAFTA-winning BBC miniseries in 2024. She has received over 90 awards, honours, and nominations, including two British Book Awards and the Women’s Prize Outstanding Achievement Award in 2025.

As a literary activist, she founded the Brunel International African Poetry Prize (2012–2022) and the Complete Works Mentoring Scheme, which developed poets of colour toward publication between 2007 and 2017. She was also the 2023 and 2024 Literature Mentor for the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative, mentoring Ghanaian novelist Ayesha Harruna Attah. Her commitment to African and diaspora writing has been lifelong and structural.

The lecture is free to attend but booking is required, tickets are available via Eventbrite on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are in or near Oxford on 6 May, grab yours here.