Description

• Bernardine Evaristo is the winner of the 2019 Booker Prize for Girl, Woman, Other, and the first Black woman and first Black British person to receive this honor. There is huge international enthusiasm surrounding Manifesto, her first book since the Booker win, a bold work of memoir, criticism, and activism.

• Grove’s edition of Girl, Woman, Other was a national bestseller and has sold 250,000 copies across all formats. It has been one of the most talked-about novels of recent years, and named one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2019, as well as Roxane Gay’s favorite book of the year. It landed on a bevy of “best of” lists, including that of the New Yorker, the Washington Post, NPR, and many others.

• Manifesto offers Evaristo’s unique story of monumental success after decades of struggle for recognition. It is a hopeful and inspirational story of perseverance that will resonate with all generations of creative people, and especially those who have seen their stories go disregarded as marginal in mainstream channels. Building on a long tradition of radical Black women writers, from Audre Lorde to Nikki Giovanni to Roxane Gay, in Manifesto Evaristo combines equal parts personal memoir, bold and incisive criticism, and hands-on manual, creating a vital and accessible tool for anyone encountering stumbling blocks in their own work.

• In the past years, Evaristo’s star has risen astronomically in the UK and in the United States. She was named Author of the Year by the British Book Awards in 2020 and elected as an International Honorary Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021 and has become an important advocate for changes in the publishing industry.

• We have major expectations for Manifesto, coming off the many successes of Girl, Woman, Other. We expect major review attention and profiles, as well as television and radio interest. We are also in early discussions surrounding a stateside tour in early 2022.

• Evaristo is constantly in-demand for op-eds and other short-form writing at major outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, and she is frequently asked to comment for television programs including Trevor Noah’s Daily Show and CNN.

• We will send early copies to many of her countless vocal fans, including Marlon James, Rumaan Alam, Tom Stoppard, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Natalie Portman. We will also try our best to get copies to President Obama and Michelle Obama, as well as to Oprah.

• Girl, Woman, Other was hugely championed by booksellers at indie bookstores, and remained on the ABA regional bestseller lists for much of 2020. We will do aggressive outreach for an Indie Next Pick for Manifesto.

• We also had tremendous success with a special edition at Target, where Girl, Woman, Other was chosen for the Target Diverse Book Club. It sold over 10,000 copies, with 5,000 copies specially signed by Evaristo.

• A television adaptation of Girl, Woman, Other is in the works, with rights acquired by Potboiler Television, whose previous literary adaptations include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, starring Lupita Nyong’o.