'It begins with listening'

 

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

 

Born in Manchester, England on this date in 1957, Winterson first won acclaim for her book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against conventional values.

 

Winterson won a basketful of awards for Oranges, then followed that by winning the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for The Passion, a novel set in Napoleonic Europe.  Among Winterson’s recent bestsellers is the novel Frankissstein: A Love Story inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and long-listed for the prestigious Booker Prize. 

 

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

 

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