Jenny Diski was born in London in 1947, and now lives in Cambridge. She is the author of eight novels, two volumes of essays and three non-fiction travel/memoir books, and has her own blog, on her website.
April 2016
Jenny Diski’s cancer diary: 'I too shall cease'
In 2014 author Jenny Diski was diagnosed with terminal cancer and began her acclaimed farewell diary. She died on 28 April, aged 68
June 2014
Thrive by Richard Layard and David M Clark – review
Banish those negative thoughts: Jenny Diski questions a well-intentioned crusade to improve mental health undertaken by New Labour's 'Happiness Tsar'
April 2014
When Doris Lessing rescued me
In an address at Doris Lessing's memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Jenny Diski recalled how as a teenager she went to live with the author, who taught her invaluable lessons about becoming a writer
March 2014
Arkaeology: the real meaning of the Noah story
The film Noah is outraging evangelicals. But with its hot rain, incest and castration, the biblical story is far wilder, finds Jenny Diski
June 2013
Attention!: A (Short) History by Joshua Cohen – review
Take a dash of Montaigne and add a smidgen of stimulants and you get an digressive, engaging ride of an essay, writes Jenny Diski
March 2013
God Bless the NHS by Roger Taylor – review
Can the NHS be saved by statistics? Jenny Diski is worried about a new system based on cost-cutting and 'patient power'
April 2012
Why the Titanic always sinks
Jenny Diski
Jenny Diski: Like children replaying a trauma, we are drawn to the perfect drama of the loss of the great 20th-century cruise liner
March 2012
From Melancholia to Prozac by Clark Lawlor - review
Jenny Diski on how our understanding of misery has changed less than we think
February 2012
Big cats in Stroud is better than nothing
Jenny Diski
Jenny Diski: The latest hype over big cat 'sightings' at Woodchester Park reveals how we all need some wilderness in our tidy, civilised lives
January 2012
Charles Dickens at 200
The Charles Dickens bicentennial is quite enough, already
Jenny Diski
Jenny Diski: Dickens novels should be savoured slowly, not overhyped by our anniversary-obsessed media
October 2011
Deceit and Self-Deception by Robert Trivers – review
Jenny Diski is unconvinced by a biological theory about why we all lie
June 2011
The Man Who Ate His Boots by Anthony Brandt – review
The tragic history of the Northwest Passage is still chilling, says Jenny Diski
April 2011
Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso – review
This memoir somehow manages to make its controversial subject matter dreary
December 2010
If only sharks could wink
Jenny Diski
Jenny Diski: It's not the shark's fault, but we humans are suckers for an infantile, communicative face
July 2010
Travel solo, never alone
Travelling on your own lets you do exactly what you want when you want. Author and veteran solo traveller Jenny Diski shares her strategies
October 2009
Beatles to Bowie: beneath the surface of 60s photography
Jagger is pretty, Nureyev is pretty, Polanksi is pretty. But how much does a celebration of the 1960s through glamour photos and fan mags tell of the world of substance beyond, asks Jenny Diski
June 2009
Author, author
Author, author: Advice for young writers-to-be
Jenny Diski on her rejected foreword for a compilation of student literature
May 2009
Creature comforts
Review: Making Animals Happy: How to Create the Best Life for Pets and Other Animals by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson Jenny Diski takes issue with an author whose empathy with livestock raises a bigger question
September 2008
America through the looking glass
Review: Man in the Dark by Paul Auster Paul Auster follows Pirandello and Philip K Dick with decidedly mixed results says Jenny Diski
August 2008
Protesting too much
Review: Bits of Me Are Falling Apart by William Leith, and What's Going On? The Meanderings of a Comic Mind in Confusion by Mark Steel The state of the world and the woes of the self collide in two mid-life crises, finds Jenny Diski
