Our 2021 Chair of Judges and award-winning author Bernardine Evaristo will be in conversation with Pandora Sykes us for a live recording of our chart-topping podcast, in which Bernardine will share the five books by women that have most inspired her life and career – plus you will be able to ask her questions of your own.

Our partner Waterstones will run a pop-up bookshop where Bernardine and Pandora will be doing a signing after the recording. Women’s Prize merchandise will be available from our on-site shop, and our pop-up bar will be serving drinks all day and into the evening.

Speakers:

Bernardine Evaristo is the award-winning author of eight books and numerous other works that span the genres of novels, poetry, verse fiction, short fiction, essays, literary criticism, and radio and theatre drama. Her writing and projects are based around her interest in the African diaspora. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List this October, replacing the MBE she received in 2009. As a literary activist, Bernardine has set up many successful arts inclusion projects including the Brunel International African Poetry Prize (2012-) and The Complete Works poetry mentoring scheme (2007-2017). She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Literature.

Pandora Sykes is a writer, journalist and broadcaster. Her debut essay collection, How Do We Know We Are Doing It Right? was published in July 2020, by Penguin Random House. A former fashion editor and columnist at The Sunday Times Style and contributing editor at ELLE, she has written for titles including The Observer, The Telegraph, GQ, Vogue, Red, ES Magazine and Grazia.

She is the co-creator and co-host of the acclaimed weekly podcast The High Low, which receives over 1.2 million downloads per month. In 2019, the duo hosted a sell-out UK tour and launched a capsule collection of merchandise, with 100% of profits going to Women’s Aid and Show Racism The Red Card. She is also the host of Doing It Right, a podcast interview series launched in July 2020, about modern life’s trivialities and anxieties, based on her book of the same name.

Please consider adding a donation to your ticket. This will help us, the Women’s Prize Trust, to continue our important work empowering all women to raise their voices and own their stories. The Women’s Prize Trust is a registered charity (1181253).