“I believe in fiction and the power of stories because that way we speak in tongues. We are not silenced. All of us, when in deep trauma, find we hesitate, we stammer; there are long pauses in our speech. The thing is stuck. We get our language back through the language of others. We can turn to the poem. We can open the book. Somebody has been there for us and deep-dived the words.”

English author

Jeanette Winterson is an English author. She is known for her fiction, especially her debut novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a semi-autobiographical story about a lesbian growing up in an English Pentecostal community. Her later novels often explore gender and sexual identity, and her more recent work turns to the relationship between people and technology. Her books have been translated into nearly 20 languages, and she also broadcasts and teaches creative writing.