Girl, Woman, Other

- Girl, Woman, Other was named the winner of the 2019 Booker Prize, alongside Margaret Atwood for The Testaments. Evaristo is the first black woman to win the prize in the award's fifty-year history. - Bernardine Evaristo is one of Britain's most exciting contemporary writers, a woman of color whose literary work often centers on subjects that have been marginalized, arguably more so in Britain than here. Praised by Ali Smith-"Bernardine Evaristo can take any story from any time and turn it into something vibrating with life"-Candice Carty-Williams, Diana Evans, Nikesh Shukla, and many more, this novel is Bernardine's major breakthrough in the UK and we hope for the same here. - We expect major review attention for this title, taking up the momentum from the UK, where it has been selected as a Guardian Summer Read, an Ultimate Summer Books Pick by the UK's Sunday Times, and a Bookseller's Choice in the Observer. By publishing quickly this December we will keep the enthusiasm from the British publication and ensure that we don't lose sales if the author's profile rises in the next few months. - We will publish as a Black Cat paperback original and are thrilled to have such a strong and saleable title as a paperback original. We will do major outreach to booksellers to make sure they are aware of the book and excited to sell it. This strategy worked brilliantly for titles including our own The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris, The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth, and Milkman by Anna Burns. We will all cross our fingers as the Booker shortlist is announced! - We will do major outreach to American writers who will be excited to support Evaristo's work. A big round of buzz galleys will go out to authors including Roxane Gay, Tayari Jones, Angela Flournoy, Tommy Orange, Andrea Lawlor, Nafissa Thompson-Spires, and many more. - Girl, Woman, Other has also been shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize for boundary-pushing fiction. The winner will be announced on October 10. We hope for further shortlistings for other major prizes including the Costa and Women's Prize. - This is a novel which shows us a side of London that we rarely see, the lives of immigrants and people of color, mostly women. It is reminiscent of White Teeth with larger-than-life characters and a brilliant humor and joy that sits alongside very moving subject matter and brilliantly dramatic scenes. - While still very easy to read, the novel is formally experimental. The style draws on Bernardine's background as a poet, she uses short, clipped lines that move with a real speed and energy. Dialogue mixes with narrative and thoughts in a mode that is innovative but is second-nature to read. - Bernardine Evaristo's profile has risen hugely since being nominated for the Booker longlist. She was recently asked to contribute a solo piece on Toni Morrison after her passing, which you can read here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/10/toni-morrison-bernardine-evaristo-on-our-side.