BBC accused of 'sidelining' Bernardine Evaristo after historic Booker win

Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo has criticised the BBC for labelling her “another author” whilst describing her double-win with Margaret Atwood, with Evaristo’s agent calling on the broadcaster to apologise for “their erasure of her historic achievement”.

Evaristo shared a message originally posted by Twitter account, 

, featuring a BBC journalist reporting on the Turner Prize, which saw all four shortlisted artists awarded the prize. The reporter appears to refer to Evaristo as “another author” who shared the prize with Atwood in October in a double-win, for Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton). The YouTube clip has now been watched 56,000 times.

Evaristo said: “I have no problem winning the Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood, who is amazing, but I do object to being sidelined. The BBC is supposed to symbolise the gold standard in broadcasting so it's quite shocking to see my achievement as the first black woman to win this prize undermined in this way. Just when I've achieved a higher degree of visibility as a writer, the very experienced BBC presenter last night could not help but erase my name, which is not only unprofessional but also speaks to the battle many of us face with the old-school establishment.”

(4th December): “Pls RT: The @BBC described me yesterday as 'another author' apropos @TheBookerPrizes 2019. How quickly & casually they have removed my name from history - the first black woman to win it. This is what we've always been up against, folks.” Her tweet has been retweeted more than 2,700 times and liked 3,200 times within a few hours.

Emma Paterson, Evaristo’s agent at Aitken Alexander, told The Bookseller: "Bernardine Evaristo is the first black woman to win the Booker Prize. She is professor of creative writing at Brunel. She’s a long-time and vital literary activist. She is not ‘another author’. Will the BBC apologise for their erasure of her historic achievement? Because I think they must.’’

A spokesperson for BBC News told The Bookseller: "Our presenter was speaking live when he made the comparison between the Turner and Booker prize results - this part of the item was unscripted and he didn't say Bernardine Evaristo's name at the time. We apologise to her for the offense caused."

Evaristo has sold 57,187 books for £588,516 in total through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM, with Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton), which follows the lives of black British women, their struggles, laughter, longings and loves, outselling the rest of her backlist combined on 28,979 copies sold to date.