Gavin Evans

I was born in London and grew up in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, San Marcos, Texas and Johannesburg where I was intensely involved in anti-apartheid activities in the 1980s, both semi-legally and in the underground. Along the way I completed degrees in economic history, an LLB law degree and an MA and PhD in politics while working as a journalist for several South African newspapers and as a foreign correspondent for IPS. I returned to London early in 1993 and continued to work as writer and broadcaster. I also wrote a series of boxing books - 'Prince of the Ring' and 'Wicked!' on Naseem Hamed, 'Mama's Boy' on Lennox Lewis and 'Kings of the Ring' on heavyweight history. I wrote a memoir, 'Dancing Shoes is Dead' (Doubleday & Black Swan), which was shortlisted for the Alan Paton non-fiction prize. My last two books have related to genetics. Two years ago I wrote 'Black Brain, White Brain: is intelligence skin-deep?' (Thistle & Jonathan Ball), which was shortlisted for the Recht Malan non-fiction prize. It critiques racist IQ theories, and race science more generally. My latest book is 'Mapreaders & Multitaskers: men, women, nature, nurture' (Thistle), which argues that the differences in the minds and brains of men and women are hugely exaggerated. My next book, 'The Story of Colour: a voyage through the hidden messages of the spectrum' (Michael O'Mara) will be published in March 2018. I currently lecture at Birkbeck College, University of London, and at Cardiff University. I live in North London and have two grown-up daughters and when not writing or lecturing I run marathons and shorter distances.