Poet and prose author Bernardine Evaristo talks about her evolution as a writer
© Katie Vandyck
Bernardine Evaristo is the author of semi-autobiographical verse novel Lara, verse novel The Emperor’s Babe
What inspired you to become a writer?
It was a long, slow process. I was an actress first and started writing at drama school, writing for theatre. Then when I left drama school I co-founded a touring theatre company and continued to write for theatre.
But my plays were always written as poetry and I was concurrently writing independent poems. Eventually I left theatre and acting behind but continued as a writer.
Did you find an agent or a publisher first?
I didn’t get an agent until I had an offer for my third book from Hamish Hamilto/Penguin The Emperor’s Babe. I then found the agent and she negotiated a better deal for me. It was a verse novel and my publisher (Hamish Hamilton) does not publish poetry, so I was very lucky to get a deal. My agent was recommended to me. It’s usually the best way. Word of mouth.
How do you balance your time between creative writing and all the other things you do?
It’s a juggling act but one I enjoy. The only aspect of my career that I don’t always appreciate is the business side of being a writer. It’s very time-consuming spending hours at my desk dealing with all the administration that every facet of my career brings my way.
My priority is writing my books and I fit everything else around it. I write occasional reviews and literary pieces for various newspapers and publication and I dip into teaching but hold no full-time posts.
I’m currently a Visiting Tutor at Goldsmith’s College. I still tour abroad quite a bit, but not about eight times a year, which I was doing a few years ago.
Blogging doesn’t take up much time as I don’t post very often. I’m extremely focused on my career and very disciplined in a way that works for me. 1000% commitment. That’s what it takes.
What impact do you think literary awards such as the Orange Youth Panel Award have a novelist’s career?
Awards can make a huge difference, depending on which ones you receive. Clearly the Booker Prize is unbeatable. Awards raise a writer’s profile, sell vast quantities of books sometimes and are a wonderful endorsement of a writer’s work.
How did it feel to be awarded an MBE for services to literature? What affect do you think this will have on your writing?
It was a lovely surprise and honour but it will have no effect on my writing process.
How would you describe your writing style?
I began as a poet, then I moved onto verse novels, then a novel-with-verse, until Blonde Roots was published last year and that was my first prose novel. I’ve since written a novella HELLO MUM, which Penguin is putting out next year. I’ve also written for radio and theatre. So how would I describe it? Eclectic, adventurous, boundary-blurring.
How did you make the decision to go from writing in verse to writing a purely prose novel?
It’s complicated and the process was somewhat organic. Lara was a prose novel that didn’t work so I turned it into a verse novel and it did. The Emperor’s Babe began life as a few poems and eventually grew into a verse novel. Soul Tourists was originally a prose novel of 90,000 words that was reduced to a novel-with-verse of 50,000 words.
What inspires you?
Many things. History inspires me and writing untold stories into the dominant narrative.
Whose writing do you admire?
Many writers and many books. One of my current faves is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.
What are the biggest challenges of writing?
Maintaining confidence and self-belief, maintaining an awareness that I only want to put my very best work out there so working extremely hard to this end and learning to be a marathon runner. One needs stamina to be a writer who continues to write and publish.
What do you enjoy most about it?
Making something out of nothing.
Where do you carry out the majority of your writing?
At my desk. It’s nine feet long, cost £150 from Ikea and is actually a dining table. As soon as I bought it I realised I needed two of them. One to keep completely clear and the other to cover with the papers of writing/office life. It takes up about half of my study.
If you want to see it visit my blog and scroll down.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Many highlights in many different ways.
What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?
Subscribe to Mslexia magazine and get the last eight issues and you’ll read my creative column, which is designed to offer practical creative writing tools and to inspire writers. I’ve stopped it now so you have to get back issues.
Be 1000% committed and let nothing hold you back, least of all yourself.
What are you working on now?
A secret!
For more on Bernardine please visit www.bevaristo.net
Bernardine’s novels are available from Amazon
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