Winterson, Jeanette (1959-…), a British novelist, became known as an outspoken feminist and a challenging and provocative writer. Her fiction is noted for its unorthodox storytelling techniques and its quirky wit.
Winterson’s first novel was the mainly autobiographical Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985). It reflects her own upbringing as the daughter of parents who belong to a strict Pentecostal Evangelist sect in Lancashire. The heroine of the novel, like Winterson, discovers she is a lesbian. Boating for Beginners (1986) is a reworking of the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark. The Passion (1987) is a historical love story set in the early 1800’s, and Sexing the Cherry (1989) is a fantasy about the magical adventures of a young man in the early 1600’s. Winterson’s other books include Written on the Body (1992), the experimental and plotless Art & Lies: A Piece for Three Voices and a Bawd (1994), and Gut Symmetries (1997). Her essays were collected in Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery (1996).
Winterson was born on Aug. 27, 1959, in Manchester into a working-class family. Following a love affair with another girl when she was 15, she left home and worked at various jobs to pay her way through college. After graduating from St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University, with an M.A. degree in 1971, she worked first in fringe theater and then in publishing. In 2006, Winterson was honored for her achievements by Queen Elizabeth II, who appointed her to the Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 2018, she was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and thus became known as Dame Jeanette Winterson.
