Jeanette Winterson is a writer. Her novels include Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and The Stone Gods
March 2025
OpenAI’s metafictional short story about grief is beautiful and moving
Jeanette Winterson
I think of AI as alternative intelligence – and its capacity to be ‘other’ is just what the human race needs
November 2024
‘She gave me the chance that became my life’: Jeanette Winterson on her first editor, Philippa Brewster
The pioneering feminist editor and publisher died in October. The Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit author looks back on the close friendship they shared
February 2024
Our bodies are incredible. That’s why I believe in the power of extended fasting
Jeanette Winterson
The author explains why she chose to embark on a 10-day fast under medical supervision in Germany
December 2023
The pet I'll never forget
The pet I’ll never forget: Jeanette Winterson on Silver, ‘the brightest cat I have ever had’
I know what it means to leave your mother too soon – and Silver came to me at just five weeks old. It was the start of an unbreakable bond
November 2023
‘It is a beast that needs to be tamed’: leading novelists on how AI could rewrite the future
Novelists and poets, Bernardine Evaristo, Jeanette Winterson, Stephen Marche and others, consider the threats and thrilling possibilities of artificial intelligence
September 2022
‘She has been the one and only stable female in my life’: Jeanette Winterson on mourning the Queen
‘When I realised there was going to be an announcement about her death, I changed into black and waited. She deserved that. Part of us goes with her’
July 2019
Further reading
From Ted Hughes to HG Wells: Jeanette Winterson picks the best books about the moon
Fifty years since Apollo 11 landed, the novelist shares her favourite books and poems about Earth’s mysterious satellite
February 2019
Observer wine supplement
Vintage wisdom: Jeanette Winterson on wine
The author is a long-time wine lover. Here, she shares her cellar secrets and reflects on how Britain finally succumbed to the grape
December 2018
Books that made me
Jeanette Winterson: ‘I couldn't finish Fifty Shades. Are straight women really having such terrible sex?'
The novelist on Mary Portas’s call to arms, Tove Jansson’s Moomin wisdom, and not reading Thomas Pynchon
October 2018
How to Eat: Jeanette Winterson on Nigella’s classic cookbook
How to Eat delivered far more than recipes. It is intimate, confessional and offers a practical philosophy on how to enjoy food
September 2018
‘Different sex. Same person’: how Woolf’s Orlando became a trans triumph
A hero who becomes a heroine, who loves women and men … Jeanette Winterson explores the affair and politics behind Virginia Woolf’s pioneering novel
January 2018
Made in ...
Jeanette Winterson on Accrington: 'I love the north; our energy, toughness, humour'
The author of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit reveals how the town where she grew up helped to mould her and her writing
October 2017
'I had a ghost touch me – horrible!' Writers visit haunted houses
To celebrate Halloween, Sarah Perry, Jeanette Winterson, Mark Haddon and other writers put a new spin on the traditional ghost story with tales set in English Heritage properties
July 2017
Queer politics has been a force for change; celebrate how far we've come
Jeanette Winterson
‘At last I felt I fitted in’: writers on the books that helped them come out
May 2017
With his Manchester poem, Tony Walsh found words where there are no words
Jeanette Winterson
The poet’s appearance at the vigil for the Manchester bombing victims helped us face up to the tragedy
April 2017
How to make the world a better place
Jeanette Winterson: we need to be more imaginative about modern marriage
March 2017
Why Antony Gormley’s iron men are broadening our horizons
Gormley’s life-sized figures have kept lookout from waterside sites from Suffolk to the Bristol Channel – their transient quality is part of their timeless appeal
December 2016
Jeanette Winterson: the last Christmas I spent with my mother
She was an unhappy woman, so this happy time was precious
