Bernardine Evaristo is an English author and Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University of London, where she teaches creative writing. She is also Visiting Professor of Creative Media at the University of Oxford for 2025/6. Evaristo is best known for her novel Girl, Woman, Other, which jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's The Testaments. This achievement made Evaristo the first Black woman to win the Booker Prize. The novel went on to win numerous other awards, including two British Book Awards. Beyond her work as a novelist, Evaristo has held significant roles in the literary establishment. She served as President of the Royal Society of Literature for four years, becoming the second woman and the first Black or Asian person to hold the position since the organization's founding in 1820. Upon completing her tenure in 2025, she was elected President Emerita. In 2025, Evaristo received the Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution Award, a one-off honor created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Women's Prize for Fiction. This award was selected from among all previous winners and nominees of the prize.