Amma, Dominique, Yazz, Shirley, Carole, Bummi, LaTisha, Morgan, Hattie, Penelope, Winsome, Grace.
La plus jeune a dix-neuf ans, la plus âgée, quatre-vingt-treize. Elles sont douze femmes puissantes, apôtres du féminisme et de la liberté, chacune à sa manière, d'un bout de siècle à l'autre. Leurs vies s'épaulent, s'opposent et font la ronde. Chacune est en quête, de place, de classe, d'un avenir, d'une identité, du bonheur. Elles sont un choeur, un tableau vibrant et foisonnant, une ode à la différence et à la soif « d'être ensemble ».
Et si l'Afrique avait conquis le monde ?
Imaginez un monde où Noir et Blanc seraient inversés. Où l'Afrique serait le maître et l'Europe son esclave. Où les " cerveaux caucasoïdes " seraient jugés incapables de penser, à peine supérieurs aux primates...
Ce monde, c'est celui de Doris Scagglethorpe, raflée sur les côtes anglaises alors qu'elle est encore enfant. Vendue, renommée Omorenomwara, elle assiste désormais le Bwana comme secrétaire - une place enviée parmi les esclaves. Mais comment oublier les ciels gris d'Angleterre ? Comment supporter les brimades, les vexations ? Informée d'un réseau de résistance souterrain, Doris brise bientôt ses chaînes et s'enfuit, à la découverte de ses blondes racines...
L'histoire de Bernardine Evaristo est un manifeste pour l'intégrité, le courage et la ténacité.
" Quand j'ai gagné le Booker Prize en 2019 pour mon roman Fille, femme, autre, le succès s'est manifesté du jour au lendemain. " Pourtant, écrit Bernardine Evaristo, le chemin a été long jusqu'au sommet. Quarante ans de théâtre et d'engagement, culturel et militant, poétique et féministe... C'est le secret de cette ténacité qui l'intéresse ici, ce sentiment que rien ne pouvait l'arrêter. Ni le racisme de son enfance, ni les découragements... En revenant sur son parcours, ses modèles, les raisons de sa créativité, l'autrice détourne l'autoportrait en exemple inspirant, ses mémoires en manifeste dont surgit, intact et puissant, ce cri de ralliement : NE RENONCEZ JAMAIS.
À soixante-quatorze ans, on ne fait pas plus chic que Barry Jedidiah Walker. Élégant, fin-lettré, connaissant son Shakespeare sur le bout des doigts, le dandy caraïbéen porte encore beau - c'est le moins qu'on puisse dire. Alors s'il est toujours « coureur de jupons », après cinquante ans de mariage, Carmel ferme les yeux. Mais elle se trompe. Car Barry, en vérité, n'a jamais séduit une autre femme. Ces soirées clandestines, c'est à Morris qu'il les consacre, son amour de jeunesse, qui le supplie, au crépuscule de leurs vies, qu'ils la terminent ensemble. Parce qu'il n'est jamais trop tard pour se libérer des conventions...
Teeming with life and crackling with energy - a love song to modern Britain and black womanhood 'Astonishing. How she can speak through twelve different people and give them each such distinct and vibrant voices? I loved it. So much' Candice Carty-Williams, author of Queenie 'Didn't think I could love a Bernardine Evaristo novel more than The Emperor's Babe but with Girl, Woman, Other she might just have outdone herself' Diana Evans, author of Ordinary People 'Bernardine Evaristo can take any story from any time and turn it into something vibrating with life' Ali Smith, author of How to be both 'Witty, exhilarating and wise... Once again, Bernardine Evaristo reminds us she is one of Britain's best writers' Nikesh Shukla 'Exceptional. Ambitious, flowing and all-encompassing, an offbeat narrative that'll leave your mind in an invigorated whirl... You have to order it right now' Stylist 'At turns funny and sad, tender and true, this book deserves to win awards' Red Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years. Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible.
This honest, engaging memoir shares such gems . . . the perfect read for anyone who dreams big'' The Times and Sunday Times, Books of the Year br>br>The powerful, urgent memoir and manifesto on never giving up from Booker prize-winning trailblazer, Bernardine Evaristobr>br>In 2019, Bernardine Evaristo became the first black woman to win the Booker Prize since its inception fifty years earlier - a revolutionary landmark for Britain. Her journey was a long one, but she made it, and she made history.br>br>Manifesto is her intimate and fearless account of how she did it. From a childhood steeped in racism from neighbours, priests and even some white members of her own family, to discovering the arts through her local youth theatre; from stuffing her belongings into bin bags, always on the move between temporary homes, to exploring many romantic partners both toxic and loving, male and female, and eventually finding her soulmate; from setting up Britain''s first theatre company for Black women in the eighties to growing into the trailblazing writer, theatre-maker, teacher, mentor and activist we see today - Bernardine charts her rebellion against the mainstream and her life-long commitment to community and creativity. And, through the prism of her extraordinary experiences, she offers vital insights into the nature of race, class, feminism, sexuality and ageing in modern Britain.br>br>Bernardine Evaristo''s life story is a manifesto for courage, integrity, optimism, resourcefulness and tenacity. It''s a manifesto for anyone who has ever stood on the margins, and anyone who wants to make their mark on history. It''s a manifesto for being unstoppable.br>br>br>''Raw and emotive . . . a powerful account of how Evaristo got to the top of her game - it''s moving, but there''s also much humour and joy'' Independent br>br>''Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere'' Elif Shafakbr>br> ''Bernardine Evaristo is one of Britain''s best writers, an iconic and unique voice, filled with warmth, subtlety and humanity. Exceptional'' Nikesh Shukla>
Welcome to a world turned upside down. One minute, Doris, from England, is playing hide-and-seek with her sisters in the fields behind their cottage. The next, someone puts a bag over her head and she ends up in the hold of a slave-ship sailing to the New World . . . In this fantastically imaginative inversion of the transatlantic slave trade - in which 'whytes' are enslaved by black people - Bernardine Evaristo has created a thought-provoking satire that is as accessible and readable as it is intelligent and insightful. Blonde Roots brings the shackles and cries of long-ago barbarity uncomfortably close and raises timely questions about the society of today.
Stanley Williams, angst-ridden banker and boffin, wonders whether there's more to life than his daily nine-to-five grind. One night he's dragged to a disco at Piccadilly Circus and there he meets Jessie: artiste, motormouth, ducker and diver. She swoops Stanley out of his soulless life and off on a rollercoaster road trip across Europe, bringing him face to face with a host of forgotten luminaries from the rich mix of black European history and literature.
WINNER OF THE NESTA FELLOWSHIP AWARD 2003 'Wildly entertaining, deeply affecting' Ali Smith, author of How to be both and Autumn A coming-of-age tale to make the muses themselves roar with laughter and weep for pity -- sassy, razor-sharp and transformative -- from the acclaimed author of Mr Loverman Londinium, AD 211. Zuleika is a modern girl living in an ancient world. She's a back-alley firecracker, a scruffy Nubian babe with tangled hair and bare feet - and she's just been married off a fat old Roman. Life as a teenage bride is no joke but Zeeks is a born survivor. She knows this city like the back of her hand: its slave girls and drag queens, its shining villas and rotting slums. She knows how to get by. Until one day she catches the eye of the most powerful man on earth, the Roman Emperor, and her trouble really starts... Silver-tongued and merry-eyed, this is a story in song and verse, a joyful mash-up of today and yesterday. Kaleidoscoping distant past and vivid present, The Emperor's Babe asks what it means to be a woman and to survive in this thrilling, brutal, breathless world.
The powerful, urgent manifesto on never giving up from Booker prize-winning trailblazer, Bernardine Evaristobr>br>Bernardine Evaristo''s 2019 Booker win - the first by a Black woman - was a revolutionary moment both for British culture and for her. After three decades as a trailblazing writer, teacher and activist, she moved from the margins to centre stage, taking her place in the spotlight at last. Her journey was a long one, but she made it, and she made history. br>br>MANIFESTO is Bernardine Evaristo''s intimate and inspirational, no-holds-barred account of how she did it, refusing to let any barriers stand in her way. She charts her creative rebellion against the mainstream and her life-long commitment to the imaginative exploration of ''untold'' stories. And drawing deeply on her own experiences, she offers a vital contribution to current conversations around social issues such as race, class, feminism, sexuality and aging. br>br>This is a unique book about staying true to yourself and to your vision. It''s about how to be unstoppable - in your craft, your work, your life. It is Bernardine Evaristo''s manifesto for never giving up.br>br>''Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere.'' Elif Shafakbr>br>''Bernardine Evaristo is one of Britain''s best writers, an iconic and unique voice, filled with warmth, subtlety and humanity. Exceptional'' Nikesh Shuklabr>br>''Bernardine Evaristo is the most daring, imaginative and innovative of writers'' Inua Ellams>
'When I was invited to write this book, my first time writing about art, I immediately knew that I would turn my attention on women and womxn (to include non-binary people) of colour in British art because, similar to the story throughout the arts, either as creator or curator, we haven't been very visible. This book is personal - about the art I've seen, and the art I've loved - and my interpretation of the art in the national collection and beyond, from an intersectional feminist perspective.' - Bernardine Evaristo.
Teeming with life and crackling with energy - a love song to modern Britain and black womanhood 'Bernardine Evaristo is one of those writers who should be read by everyone, everywhere. Her tales marry down-to-earth characters with engrossing story lines about identity, and the UK of today' Elif Shafak 'Evaristo's books are always exciting, always subversive, a reminder of the boundless possibilities of literature and the great worth in reaching for them. Her body of work is incredible' Diana Evans 'Witty, exhilarating and wise... Once again, Bernardine Evaristo reminds us she is one of Britain's best writers, an iconic and unique voice, filled with warmth, subtly and humanity. Exceptional' Nikesh Shukla Girl, Woman, Other follows the lives and struggles of twelve very different characters. Mostly women, black and British, they tell the stories of their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years. Joyfully polyphonic and vibrantly contemporary, this is a gloriously new kind of history, a novel of our times: celebratory, ever-dynamic and utterly irresistible. 'If you don't yet know her work, you should - she says things about modern Britain that no one else does' Maggie Gee, Guardian
Black figuration and portraiture as realized in the works of Amy Sherald, Jordan Casteel and other contemporary artists.
«There is never a time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment, the time is always now,» wrote James Baldwin. Published in conjunction with the eponymous exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, The Time is Always Now is edited by curator Ekow Eshun, former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. The book brings together 22 contemporary African diasporic artists working primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States, whose practices?whether through painting, drawing or sculpture?foreground the Black figure. Acknowledging the paradox of race as both a «socially constructed fiction» and a «lived reality,» as Eshun writes, The Time is Always Now celebrates these Black figurative artworks against a background of heightened cultural visibility. Through a three-part structure, this book examines Black figuration as a means to address the absence and distortion of Black presence within Western art history. Each artist receives a detailed biographical profile alongside reproductions of their included works. The catalog is also supplemented by three original essays from Dorothy Price, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Critical Race Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art; Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other; and Esi Edugyan, two-time Giller Prize winner for her novels Half-Blood Blues and Washington Black.
Artists include: Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Hurvin Anderson, Michael Armitage, Jordan Casteel, Noah Davis, Godfried Donkor, Kimathi Donkor, Denzil Forrester, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Chris Ofili, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Jennifer Packer, Thomas J. Price, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Lorna Simpson, Amy Sherald, Henry Taylor, Barbara Walker.
