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Dr Gavin Evans

Positions held:
  • Lecturer, School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Gavin Evans lectures undergraduate and post-graduate students in journalism at Birkbeck, and over the past two decades has also lectured at Birkbeck in critical thinking, media law, online journalism, creative non-fiction and aspects of media theory. 

    He was born in London but grew up in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Texas. He worked as a journalist in South Africa between 1984 and 1993 - as a political reporter, sports writer, columnist and occasional night news editor for the Eastern Province Herald, Rand Daily Mail, Weekly Mail and Sunday Times, and as a foreign correspondent for the Rome-based agency IPS. During this time he also contributed stories to The Guardian and The New York Times. He was also involved in anti-apartheid politics in various capacities, which prompted him to refuse to serve in the apartheid military. This meant he needed to stay a registered student, which led to his law degree and later his doctorate in political studies.

    On returning to London 33 years ago, he worked as a freelance journalist to give him the flexibility to help raise his two daughters. During this period he wrote for The Guardian, where he also had column, and for The Observer, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Financial Times and the magazine Esquire, Men’s Health, Frank and The New Statesman, among others, and regularly wrote for the news agency Gemini. He also did sub-editing for The Guardian and Men’s Health among others, and regularly broadcast for various stations and channels of the BBC.

    He has written 11books and has contributed chapters to several others. These books are: Prince of the Ring (Robson); Wicked! (Robson); Dancing Shoes is Dead (Doubleday and Black Swan – shortlisted for the Alan Paton non-fiction prize); Mama’s Boy (Highdown); Kings of the Ring (Weidenfeld & Nicholson); Black Brain, White Brain: is intelligence skin deep? (Jonathan Ball and Thistle - shortlisted for the Recht Malan non-fiction prize), Mapreaders & Multitaskers: men, women, nature, nurture (Thistle 2016, Lume Books, 2019), Over the Rainbow: the hidden meanings of colour (Michael O’Mara Books, 2016), Skin Deep: Dispelling the Science of Race (OneWorld, 2020); White Supremacy: From Eugenics to Great Replacement (Icon, 2024); Son of a Preacher Man (Jacana, 2025); Bible Stories: Fact, Fiction & Fantasy in Scripture (Icon, 2025).

    Gavin Evans lives in North London. He has two adult daughters and a grandson and when not writing or lecturing he trains for marathons and other races, representing England in his age group. 

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Journalism Formats and Specialisations
    • Writing in the Workplace
    • Climate Change Communication: Feeling, Thinking, Acting
    • Fast-track Practical Journalism Skills
    • Researching Digitally