Jeanette Winterson

Author profile

born

in Manchester, England, The United Kingdom

August 27, 1959

gender

female

website

http://www.jeanettewinterson.com

twitter username

Wintersonworld

genre

Literature & Fiction, Gay & Lesbian

About this author

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Novelist Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester, England in 1959. She was adopted and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, in the north of England. Her strict Pentecostal Evangelist upbringing provides the background to her acclaimed first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, published in 1985. She graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, and moved to London where she worked as an assistant editor at Pandora Press.

One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Jeanette Winterson was named as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Writers' in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.

Her novels include Boating for Beginners (1985), published shortly...more Novelist Jeanette Winterson was born in Manchester, England in 1959. She was adopted and brought up in Accrington, Lancashire, in the north of England. Her strict Pentecostal Evangelist upbringing provides the background to her acclaimed first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, published in 1985. She graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford, and moved to London where she worked as an assistant editor at Pandora Press.

One of the most original voices in British fiction to emerge during the 1980s, Jeanette Winterson was named as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Writers' in a promotion run jointly between the literary magazine Granta and the Book Marketing Council.

Her novels include Boating for Beginners (1985), published shortly after Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and described by the author as 'a comic book with pictures'; The Passion (1987), twin narratives following the adventures of the web-footed daughter of a Venetian gondolier and Napoleon's chicken chef; Sexing the Cherry (1989), an invented world set during the English Civil War featuring the fabulous 'Dog Woman' and the orphan she raises; and three books exploring triangular relationships, gender and formal experimentation: Written on the Body (1992), Art and Lies (1994) and Gut Symmetries (1997). She is also the author of a collection of short stories, The World and Other Places (1998), and a book of essays about art and culture, Art Objects, published in 1995. Her novel The. PowerBook (2000) she adapted for the National Theatre in 2002. Jeanette Winterson's work is published in 28 countries. Her latest novel is The Battle of the Sun (2009). She has also edited Midsummer Nights (2009), a collection of stories inspired by opera, by contemporary writers, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Glyndebourne Festival of Opera.

She adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990, and also wrote Great Moments in Aviation, a television screenplay directed by Beeban Kidron for BBC2 in 1994. She is also editor of a series of new editions of novels by Virginia Woolf published in the UK by Vintage. She is a regular contributor of reviews and articles to many newspapers and journals and has a regular column published in The Guardian. Her radio drama includes the play Text Message, broadcast by BBC Radio in November 2001.

The King of Capri (2003) and Tanglewreck (2006) are children's stories. Lighthousekeeping (2004), centres on the orphaned heroine Silver, taken in by the keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse, Mr Pew, whose stories of love and loss, passion and longing, are interwoven in the narrative. Her most recent book is The Battle of the Sun (2009).

Jeanette Winterson lives in Gloucestershire and London. In 2006, she was awarded an OBE.

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13 posts
Jeanette Winterson's Blog

Jeanette Winterson isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but she does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from her feed.

December - 2012

I love Christmas. Here's a few bits from Why Be Happy that might explain why.
In Accrington there was always a huge tree outside the Market Hall, and the Salvation Army played carols there for most of December.
At Christmas time the bartering system was in full swing. We could offer Brussels Spouts on stalks from our allotment, apples wrapped in newspaper to make sauce, and best of all the once a... Read more of this blog post »

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Jeanette Winterson's Books

Average rating: 3.86 · 78,422 ratings · 6,077 reviews · 41 distinct works · Similar authors

	Oranges are Not the Only Fruit 3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 18,495 ratings — published 1985 — 35 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Written on the Body 4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 11,427 ratings — published 1992 — 23 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? 3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 9,326 ratings — published 2011 — 27 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Passion 4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 avg rating — 8,603 ratings — published 1987 — 26 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sexing the Cherry 3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 7,165 ratings — published 1989 — 28 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lighthousekeeping 3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 3,734 ratings — published 2004 — 26 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Art and Lies 3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 2,429 ratings — published 1994 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles (Canongate Myths) 3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 avg rating — 2,369 ratings — published 2005 — 36 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gut Symmetries 3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 avg rating — 2,398 ratings — published 1997 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Powerbook 3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 avg rating — 2,395 ratings — published 2000 — 15 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Jeanette Winterson

“Book collecting is an obsession, an occupation, a disease, an addiction, a fascination, an absurdity, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it must do it. Those who do not do it, think of it as a cousin of stamp collecting, a sister of the trophy cabinet, bastard of a sound bank account and a weak mind.”
― Jeanette Winterson

tags: books, obsession

1,617 people liked it

“You’ll get over it…” It’s the clichés that cause the trouble. To lose someone you love is to alter your life for ever. You don’t get over it because ‘it” is the person you loved. The pain stops, there are new people, but the gap never loses. How could it? The particularness of someone who mattered enough to grieve over is not made anodyne by death. This hole in my heart is in the shape of you and no-one else can fit it. Why would I want them to?”
― Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body

tags: loss, love

1,430 people liked it

“As your lover describes you, so you are.”
― Jeanette Winterson

tags: love

578 people liked it

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Polls

Which book would you like to read for our August-September discussion?

Stone Butch Blues A Novel by Leslie Feinberg

6 votes, 19.4%

Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson

6 votes, 19.4%

Alone in the Trenches My Life As a Gay Man in the NFL by Esera Tuaolo

5 votes, 16.1%

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

4 votes, 12.9%

Sprout by Dale Peck

3 votes, 9.7%

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

2 votes, 6.5%

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

2 votes, 6.5%

Dancer from the Dance A Novel by Andrew Holleran

2 votes, 6.5%

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

1 vote, 3.2%

The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine

0 votes, 0.0%

Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville

0 votes, 0.0%

Straight Lies by Rob Byrnes

0 votes, 0.0%

31 total votes

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Book lovers : A-Z Challenge	72	174	Apr 15, 2010 04:27am
Chicks On Lit: Historical Novels	64	114	May 14, 2010 06:19pm
The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks	2748	2247	May 31, 2010 09:00pm
The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread)	3072	2929	Aug 31, 2010 10:39pm

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Jeanette Winterson

Author profile

13 posts
Jeanette Winterson's Blog

combine editions
Jeanette Winterson's Books

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Jeanette Winterson

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add NewVideos

Jeanette's Fans (1339)

Jeanette Winterson

Author profile

13 postsJeanette Winterson's Blog

combine editionsJeanette Winterson's Books

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Jeanette Winterson

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

13 posts
Jeanette Winterson's Blog

combine editions
Jeanette Winterson's Books