|
Beryl Gilroy was born in 1924 in British Guiana. She trained as a teacher in Georgetown before teaching in several schools and on a UNICEF food programme. In 1952, Gilroy arrived in Britain to study Child Development at the University of London. For years she was denied teaching positions due to the colour bar, but after finally entering the educational system, she rose to become the first black headteacher in Camden in 1969 while raising a young family. As well as her memoir Black Teacher (1976), Gilroy also wrote poetry, essays and fiction including the prize-winning Frangipani House (1986), Boy-Sandwich (1989) and In Praise of Love and Children (1996) as well as numerous titles in the pioneering multicultural children's series, Nippers. She later gained a PhD in Counselling Psychology and practiced at the Tavistock Clinic, as well as working at the BBC, the Race Relations Board and the Institute of Education, where she was an Honorary Fellow. Gilroy was described after her death in 2001 as 'one of Britain's most significant post-war Caribbean migrants.'
Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize 2019 with her eighth book, Girl, Woman, Other, the first black woman and black British person to win it. The author of essays, poetry, literary criticism and drama, her other novels include Mr Loverman, Blonde Roots, Lara and The Emperor's Babe. She has initiated several arts' inclusion projects and her honours include an OBE and being voted one of '100 Great Black Britons'. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London, an Honorary Fellow of St. Anne's College, University of Oxford, a Vice President of the Royal Society of Literature, and President of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. www.bevaristo.com |
