By Khalifa Hemed
Published October 22, 2019
The first woman with African roots to ever win the Booker literary prize since its inception in 1969 has been named in a move that has raised controversy.
The win by Bernardine Evaristo, a British novelist, critic, poet, playwright, academic with a Nigerian father and English mother on October 14, 2019 is also unique in the sense that never before had there been joint winners of the £50,000 prize till Evaristo of Britain and Margaret Atwood of Canada both received the honour; Atwood for The Testaments and Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other.
But critics say Atwood, the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels that have been published in more than forty-five countries, deserved the award more than did Evaristo who so far has eight works of fiction to her name. Other than for the controversy the joint win has generated and made the Booker prize to look more politically correct and inclusive in awarding a woman of colour, Evaristo still had time to be awarded later.
RELATED: Best Critic to Win Golden Baobab Prize for African Children’s Literature
Prairie Schooner newsletter, that describes the development as ‘controversial’ and ‘unorthodox’ says the authors have to split the £50,000 prize equally between them.
“I witnessed journalists outraged that we dared to break the rules,” Prairie Schooner quotes Afua Hirsch, a member of the 5-member judging panel, as having said. “In the end, we refused to comply. We chose two winners. The outcome would always be imperfect, because it was an impossible task. I’m proud of our decision.”
The panel that was chaired by Peter Florence who founded the Hay Festival in 1987, also comprised Hirsch (a a writer, broadcaster and former barrister), Joanna MacGregor (a concert pianist, conductor and composer), Xiaolu Guo (a British/Chinese novelist, essayist and filmmaker) and Liz Calder (a veteran publisher of award-winning works ).
“I really wanted to write an intergenerational novel, and to have women at every stage in their lives,” says Evaristo of her book that looks at the lives of twelve black British women that spans the past 100 years. “I wanted them all to have their faculties intact and to be, to a certain extent, enjoying their lives and enjoying their independence.”
RELATED:Â Legendary Artists, Surrealists and Affordable Art Come Near You
Besides The Handmaid’s Tale, an award-winning TV series, Atwood’s novels include Cat’s Eye that was short-listed for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The MaddAddam Trilogy; and Hag-Seed. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award.
Here is a summary of the winning titles, direct from the Booker Prize website:
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Vintage, Chatto & Windus)
RELATED: African Children’s Literature Prize Founder Wins Global Pluralism Award
Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.
As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.
‘Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.’ Margaret Atwood.
RELATED: Africa’s Premier Critical Arts Medium Marks 17th Year
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Penguin General, Hamish Hamilton)
Welcome to Newcastle, 1905. Ten-year-old Grace is an orphan dreaming of the mysterious African father she will never meet.
Cornwall, 1953. Winsome is a young bride, recently arrived from Barbados, realising the man she married might be a fool.
London, 1980. Amma is the fierce queen of her squatters’ palace, ready to Smash The Patriarchy with a new kind of feminist theatre.
Oxford, 2008. Carole is rejecting her cultural background (Nigeria by way of Peckham) to blend in at her posh university.
RELATED:Â Colonialism and Museum Collections-Linked Exhibition Planned for 2020
Northumberland, 2017. Morgan, who used to be Megan, is visiting Hattie who’s in her nineties, who used to be young and strong, who fights to remain independent, and who still misses Slim every day.
Welcome to Britain and twelve very different people – mostly women, mostly black – who call it home. Teeming with life and crackling with energy, Girl, Woman, Other follows them across the miles and down the years. With vivid originality, irrepressible wit and sly wisdom, Bernardine Evaristo presents a gloriously new kind of history for this old country: ever-dynamic, ever-expanding and utterly irresistible.
