In her introduction to Manifesto, Bernardine Evaristo recalls her experience of becoming an “overnight success” after four decades of working in the arts. The author won the Booker prize in 2019 for her novel Girl, Woman, Other (she shared the award with Margaret Atwood). The book quickly topped bestseller lists and, as the first Black woman to win the Booker, Evaristo became headline news. At the time, she told interviewers she felt “unstoppable”, though it also led her to thinking about her path to success.
Her aim, then, in Manifesto, is to reflect on what shaped her achievements and what it took “to keep going and growing”. The result is part memoir, part manual dispensing tips on turning a creative passion into a profession, complete with advice on self-discipline and maintaining a “PMA” (Positive Mental Attitude).
