Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker.

My guest today has spent more than 30 years honing her creative instincts.

First, as an actor and director, then with the written word, generating poetry, fiction,

and quite often a fusion of the two.

Bernardine Everisto is British, and she is black, the daughter of a Nigerian father

and a white mother. These raw facts matter because much of Bernardine Everisto's writing has been

an exploration of identity and the ways in which race, gender and sexuality are seen or not seen in a culture

rich in both history and prejudice. Her life changed dramatically when she won the UK's

foremost literary prize, the booker for her novel Girl, Woman, Other. She was the first ever black woman to win the award

and ensured that her book became a bestseller, reaching a whole new audience. She now combines

her writing with university teaching and a sustained attempt to support a diverse range of new

writers, finding their voice and a public platform. In many ways, her career

points to significant cultural change, but how deep and how lasting will it be? Well, Bernardine

Everisto joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you very much. I'm good to be here.

Well, we're delighted to have you.

I think it is fair to say that over the past year and more, this novel of yours, girl, woman,

other, has been a fantastic success, a bestseller.

I think for a long time you saw yourself as a cultural outsider.

Because of this, do you now feel yourself to be something of an insider?

Actually, I think I'm really part of the establishment right now in the middle of the establishment

in terms of how this book is doing in the world, but also I have various other positions.

For example, vice president of the role site of literature. I'm a university

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