Evaristo to chair first Global Women's Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize

Bernardine Evaristo will chair the judging panel for the first Global Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize. 

Evaristo will be joined by legal scholar and human rights activist Sylvia Tamale, author and filmmaker Natalie Baszile, professor and literary scholar Carole Boyce Davies and essayist, novelist and scholar Panashe Chigumadzi. 

The Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize was launched by Cassava Republic Press in October and aims to expand the perception of Black women writers "beyond their role as writers of fiction, poets and memoirists". The $30,000 (£23,760) prize awards the "best in unpublished non-fiction manuscripts" and is open to emerging and established cis, trans and genderqueer Black women writers globally. The winner will receive a publishing contract with Cassava Republic and a $20,000 (£15,840) advance. The two runners-up will each receive a $5,000 (£3,960) advance and a publishing deal. 

Evaristo commented: "This is a ground-breaking prize which will support, champion and elevate the writings of Black women who are interested in expanding the universe of ideas, the imagination and critical thinking, and I am overjoyed to be chairing such an illustrious panel of leading intellectuals."