British-Nigerian’s novel set for TV

Lionsgate-backed UK prodco Potboiler Television has acquired the rights to adapt British-Nigerian author Bernardine Evaristo’s Booker-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other for television.

First published in 2019, Girl, Woman, Other tells the story of modern Britain through the voices of 12 very different people, most of whom are black women.

“We are delighted to be working with Bernardine on bringing this vibrant and joyous novel to the screen. It is a vivid and authentic, as well as important, story of our times, ” said Potboiler’s Gail Egan, who founded the company in 2017 with backing from Lionsgate.

Evaristo is the first black woman to win the Booker Prize. The hardback edition stayed in the Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller list for nine consecutive weeks and was the second-best-selling literary fiction hardback of 2019. It has just been longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Potboiler has previously adapted novels for screen including film adaptations of John le Carré’s The Constant Gardener and Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger, plus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah, which is about to go into production for WarnerMedia-owned streamer HBO Max.

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