MANIFESTO
On Never Giving Up
From the bestselling and Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism
Evaristo’s nonfiction debut, Manifesto, is an intimate and inspirational account of Evaristo’s life and career as she rebelled against the mainstream to fight to bring her creative work into the world. She recalls her childhood and teenaged years as a young actor and playwright in London, details her early political awakenings and activism, and recounts her determination to tell stories that were absent in the literary world around her.
From the bestselling and Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism
Evaristo’s nonfiction debut, Manifesto, is an intimate and inspirational account of Evaristo’s life and career as she rebelled against the mainstream to fight to bring her creative work into the world. She recalls her childhood and teenaged years as a young actor and playwright in London, details her early political awakenings and activism, and recounts her determination to tell stories that were absent in the literary world around her. In her over three decades of centering the stories and histories of Black Britons, Evaristo refused to let any barriers stand in her way. In Manifesto, she charts her theory of unstoppability, and explains how she broke with convention to achieve fulfillment both artistic and personal. Drawing deeply on her own varied experiences and the people who have inspired her, Evaristo offers a vital contribution to conversations around race, class, feminism, sexuality, and aging.
Manifesto is a unique inspiration to us all to persist in doing work that we believe in, even when we might feel overlooked or discounted, following in Evaristo’s footsteps, from first vision, to continued perseverance, to eventual triumph.
- Grove Hardcover
- Hardcover
- January 2022
- 240 Pages
- 9780802158901
Buy the Book
$27.00
About Bernardine Evaristo
Bernardine Evaristo is the 2019 winner of the Booker Prize for Girl, Woman, Other, which was a national bestseller and a winner and finalist for many awards including the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Dublin Literary Award. Evaristo is the author of seven other books that explore aspects of the African diaspora. Her writing spans verse fiction, short fiction, poetry, essays, literary criticism, and drama. Evaristo is President of the Royal Society of Literature, Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London, and an Honorary Fellow of St Anne’s College, Oxford. She received an OBE in 2020, and lives in London with her husband. Her most recent book is Manifesto: On Never Giving Up.
Praise
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by Time
“Part memoir and part meditation on determination, creativity, and activism . . . A beautiful ode to determination and daring and an intimate look at one of our finest writers.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“What a fascinating life Evaristo has led . . . An inspiring yet unassuming memoir from a woman of indomitable creative energy.”—Booklist (starred review)
“In lithe prose, [Evaristo] tackles her complicated relationship with sexuality, reminisces on hustling her early books into readers’ hands and finding ‘a room of my own’ in her writing later in life, and dispenses advice on cultivating creativity and intergenerational consciousness . . . Readers will find much to ruminate over in this meditation on the power of art and persistence.”—Publishers Weekly
“Fans of Evaristo’s work will discover in Manifesto the passionate core of this unstoppable force in 21st-century literature . . . Evaristo’s personal manifesto, summarized at the end of this remarkable book, is ripe with inspiration for those who come after her, her advice timeless and applicable to readers at every stage of their artistic endeavors . . . A Booker Prize-winning British author’s soulful memoir captures the essence of her creativity and offers inspirational guidance to emerging writers.”—Shelf Awareness
“The most striking feature of this moving and enjoyable book is [Evaristo’s] fearless openness. When the publishing world looked closed to her she prised it open with her daring fiction.”―Sunday Times
“A rallying cry . . . Manifesto combines the personal with the practical to powerful effect . . . Unconventional as it may be, the format works: the autobiographical parts of the book serve as vivid lessons about the power of change, growth and self-confidence . . . Entertaining as well as instructive.”—Guardian