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Bernardine Evaristo Reveals her Top 20 Books by Black British Women Writers

Posted on 6th March 2020 by Mark Skinner

This International Women's Day Bernardine Evaristo, Booker-scooping author of Girl, Woman, Other, unveiled her personal selection of great books by Black British womxn. Conceived as part of Bristol Literary Takeover, and spearheaded by the organisation Words of Colour, the list was announced at the Waterstones shop in Bristol Galleries. Ranging across fiction, poetry, politics, cultural history and children's books, Bernardine's selection is a definitive guide to the very best writing by Black British womxn.  

Bernardine Evaristo says: 

Last year was particularly fruitful for writing by black womxn, with several debut authors of non-fiction in particular, which is why they are well-represented in this list. It’s a field that’s been arid up to this point, signalling an absence of our conversations from the intellectual culture. Each book explores its own individual cultural territory, whether that of the natural world, or a fictionalised memoir of a young actress, or a recalibration of feminism through an African prism. There still aren’t many of us writing novels or publishing poetry or children’s books, but the commercial and critical success of many of these titles makes me hopeful for the future.

Character Breakdown
Character Breakdown (Paperback)
Zawe Ashton
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Smart, entertaining and compellingly honest, Character Breakdown is Zawe Ashton’s account of her acting career and how the years spent in the thespian world shaped her identity. As well as a personal memoir, Ashton serves up a razor-sharp breakdown of the glitz and gimmicks - as well as the casual racism - of modern day show business.
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Surge
Surge (Paperback)
Jay Bernard
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An astounding, incendiary collection that takes the New Cross Fire of 1981 as a jumping off point for an exploration of injustice, prejudice and the turbulence of black lives in the decades since. An urgent new voice in British poetry, Bernard invokes Jamaican patois and the rhythms of the dancehall to craft a richly evocative verse-world.
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Crossfire
Crossfire: Exclusive Edition - Noughts and Crosses (Paperback)
Malorie Blackman
£7.99
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Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses series was one of the foundational texts of the Young Adult literature boom and now, over a decade after Double Cross, Sephy and Callum return in a blistering new novel that finds our protagonists all grown up but the dystopian world they inhabit still casting a shadow on their relationship. A mature, intelligent addition to a seminal sequence.

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The Grassling
The Grassling (Paperback)
Elizabeth-Jane Burnett
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In a profound reflection on the interconnectedness of memory, language and natural history, Burnett explores her father’s home region, the West Country, and the relationship between a place and the people inhabiting it.
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Queenie
Queenie: Exclusive Edition (Paperback)
Candice Carty-Williams
£8.99
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Caught between the Jamaican British family who don’t seem to understand her, a job that’s not all it promised and a man she just can’t get over, Queenie Jenkins’ life seems to be steadily spiralling out of control in Candice Carty-Williams luminous debut. By turns hilariously funny, dramatic and tender, with a heroine to root for, Queenie is undoubtedly one of the year’s most exciting debuts.

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The Confessions of Frannie Langton
The Confessions of Frannie Langton: As Seen on ITVX (Paperback)
Sara Collins
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A story of slavery, freedom and the wonderful and dreadful secrets bodies give up under the cover of darkness, Sara Collins’ stunning debut moves from the plantations of Jamaica to the fetid drawing rooms of London. Echoing the gothic thrall of Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is an unforgettable novel from a major new literary voice.
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Don't Touch My Hair
Don't Touch My Hair (Paperback)
Emma Dabiri
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In viewing black hair as emblematic of the black experience from slavery through to social media, Dabiri's deftly written history approaches a wide-ranging and complex topic from a startlingly original angle. Unearthing any number of jaw-dropping facts about the uses to which black hair has been put over the centuries, this is a remarkable, educational read.
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Darling
Darling (Paperback)
Rachel Edwards
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Complex and masterfully suspenseful, Darling is an impeccably executed psychological thriller, centring on a challenging relationship between a teenage girl and her stepmother. Through two powerful female narrators, Edwards weaves together a dark and chilling tale of what happens when trust disappears.
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The Mother
The Mother (Paperback)
Yvvette Edwards
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Heart-wrenching and emotionally raw, Edwards blistering second novel examines youth violence and its disorientating, debilitating effects on the victims’ families. Told with tremendous power and force, The Mother grips from first page to last.
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Ordinary People
Ordinary People (Paperback)
Diana Evans
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An intimate, immersive study of identity and parenthood, Ordinary People tackles themes of sex and grief, friendship and aging, and the fragile architecture of love in twenty-first century South London.
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"I Will Not Be Erased": Our stories about growing up as people of colour
"I Will Not Be Erased": Our stories about growing up as people of colour (Paperback)
gal-dem
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Inspired by the trailblazing website written by women and non-binary people of colour, I Will Not Be Erased is a propulsive set of essays from the site’s contributors to their younger selves. Raw, powerful and immensely important, this is essential reading.
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Freedom
Freedom (Paperback)
Catherine Johnson
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This Winner of the Little Rebels Children's Book Award tells the story of a slave boy shipped to England from a Jamaican plantation in 1783. His journey to London entails many harrowing discoveries, but also the kindness and generosity of strangers. With insight and hope firmly anchored in the narrative, Freedom offers an important perspective to one of the darkest episodes in British history.
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Tell Me Your Secret
Tell Me Your Secret (Paperback)
Dorothy Koomson
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Two women, secrets, and a serial killer who got away. From the bestselling author of Goodnight, Beautiful and The Ice Cream Girls, this tightly-plotted thriller is filled with unexpected twists and riveting characters. Spiralling towards its explosive climax, Tell Me Your Secret is addictive, tense and simply unputdownable.
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Taking Up Space
Taking Up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto for Change (Paperback)
Chelsea Kwakye, Ore Ogunbiyi
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An electrifying and impassioned polemic against the lack of diversity in the education system, Taking Up Space draws on case studies and testimonies from students past and present to challenge the stultifying status quo. A call to arms of the utmost eloquence and sophistication.
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In Dependence
In Dependence (Paperback)
Sarah Ladipo Manyika
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Exquisitely written, Manyika’s tale of love, loss and identity spans four decades and two continents in its depiction of a doomed affair between a Nigerian immigrant and the daughter of a colonial officer. Exploring issues of race, class and culture with sensitivity and intelligence, In Dependence probes the African diaspora and its relationship with white, middle class privilege.
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Orangeboy
Orangeboy (Paperback)
Patrice Lawrence
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A former winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Readers, Lawrence’s raw yet tender debut examines the vexed moral choices for a Black British teenager who always swore to stick to the right path. Lyrically written with an almost musical rhythm and brimming with compassion and insight, Orangeboy is a wise, engrossing read for both teens and adults alike.
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In Search of Equilibrium
In Search of Equilibrium (Paperback)
Theresa Lola
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Breathtaking and visceral, Lola’s stunning debut collection hones in on the stabs and strains of grief with uncompromising intensity and lyrical power. Peeling away fresh layers of meaning with every line, In Search of Equilibrium is poetry of the very highest calibre.
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Nudibranch
Nudibranch (Hardback)
Irenosen Okojie
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A parade of surreal miniatures glide through this effervescent collection from Okojie, from time travelling tramps to the trials and tribulations of a Grace Jones impersonator.

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Sensuous Knowledge
Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone (Hardback)
Minna Salami
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Asking the questions that matter in a fragmented society with multiple contending narratives, Salami’s scholarly yet accessible volume marries afro-centric and feminist theories in a bold new approach to competing global visions. Vital, relevant and perceptive, Sensuous Knowledge is a triumphant synthesis of academic study and superb storytelling.
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O.M.G.s (OH MY GODS)
O.M.G.s (OH MY GODS) (Paperback)
Alexandra Sheppard
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Zany, endearing and packed with brilliant comic set pieces and lovable, instantly relatable characters, Oh My Gods! pitches a family of Greek gods into the urban sprawl of London with hilarious results.
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Related books

Girl, Woman, Other
Girl, Woman, Other (Paperback)
Bernardine Evaristo
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Tracking the lives and loves of a dozen British women through generations and social classes, Girl, Woman, Other weaves a distinctive, illuminating tapestry of modern British life.
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