Jeanette Winterson is an acclaimed English author, born on 27 August 1959 in Manchester, England. She was adopted and raised in Accrington, Lancashire, and her strict Pentecostal Evangelist upbringing formed the backdrop to her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, published in 1985. This semi-autobiographical work tells the story of a lesbian growing up in an English Pentecostal community.

Winterson graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford and moved to London, where she worked as an assistant editor at Pandora Press. Recognized as one of the most original voices in British fiction during the 1980s, she was named one of the 20 "Best of Young British Writers" by Granta and the Book Marketing Council.

Her work often explores themes of gender polarities, sexual identity, and the intersection of humans and technology. In addition to writing, she broadcasts and teaches creative writing.

Winterson has received numerous accolades, including a Whitbread Prize for a First Novel, a BAFTA Award for Best Drama, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the E. M. Forster Award, and the St. Louis Literary Award. She has won the Lambda Literary Award twice. Furthermore, she has been honored with an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to literature. Jeanette Winterson is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Her novels have been translated into nearly 20 languages, and she adapted Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit for BBC television in 1990.