'It begins with listening'

 

“I believe in communication; bookscommunicate ideas and make bridges between people.” –Jeanette Winterson

 

Born in Manchester, England on thisdate in 1957, Winterson first won acclaim for her book Oranges Are Notthe Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenagegirl rebelling against conventional values.

 

Winterson won a basketful of awardsfor Oranges, then followed that by winning the prestigious JohnLlewellyn Rhys Prize for The Passion, a novel set in NapoleonicEurope.  Among Winterson’s recentbestsellers is the novel Frankissstein: A Love Story inspired byMary Shelley’s Frankenstein and long-listed for theprestigious Booker Prize. 

 

Also a broadcaster and a professorof creative writing, Winterson has been lauded for depiction of sound in herstories, something she attributes to having a keen ear.

 

“Everything in writing begins withlanguage,” she said, “and language begins with listening.”