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Christmas 1985, Ameland, West Frisian Islands, Netherlands

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my Substack, Bernardine Evaristo’s Writing World, launched on the 6th of July 2025.

As I’m new on here, I’m excited to see how it evolves by finding my way over the next few months. I’ve been using social media positively for nearly 20 years now, beginning with Facebook in 2008, I think, and Instagram in 2017. I love communicating through these platforms, with different angles and approches for both of them. I’m still on X, for my sins, but I gave up on it a few years ago. I’m also on bluesky. I like the idea of Substack’s ‘magazine/newspaper effect, which seems to have enticing creative possibilities. I’m also interested to know what you’d like to see from me on here.

My current ambition is to use Writing World for multiple purposes including exploring literature and literary craft, with an investigation into my own writing and the books of other writers.

Sometimes it takes me many years and many drafts to write a novel, and I’ve discarded manuscripts after working on them for years because it took me a long time to realise they weren't working. My writing practice has never been straightforward. For example, some of my books start in one literary genre but end up as another. Confused? Don't worry, I'll explain!

It will also be a platform for some of my earlier unpublished works, which have never seen the light of day (often for very good reason...) and so I'll be making several trips to the attic wearing a dust mask to excavate these ancient texts so that we can all see what went wrong — I may live to regret putting some of my quite frankly rubbish unpublished writing out there - but hey, I’m a sucker for public humiliation. The point is to use my own writing and process to provide insights into craft.

I'll also share a range of other published or produced works, such as essays, articles or even poems, which you are unlikely to come across, and certainly not find in one place. So I’m going to share my extensive archive, which will become a public repository for my creativity and commentary on culture and society.

Let’s see how it goes and do check out the suscription offers. Paid subscribers
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