Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

Groove beleives our Maggy is being facetious.

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

Not facetious at all...and just to reiterate I am not your Maggy.
Groove, it is absolutely useless of you to apologise, if you continue to do the thing you apologised for.

And didn't you ever learn at school......'i before e except after c'? (believes)...you use this word a lot, so I thought I would help you to spell it correctly.

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

It's no secret she was born in Manchester, and came to Accrington as a baby, when she was adopted.

Nearly all her biographical blurbs state these facts.

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

I love "Oranges..." and have a video of the drammatisation, I identify with a lot of it (though in my case it was a catholic up-bringing -gruesome bloody statues in church, being told we were born with original sin etc etc...)

The x-stitch sampler, bulb planting etc are very familiar, as my mum (who taught her for a year) used to try them out on me and my sister at home! I knew Mrs Virtue (a much older colleague of mum's) whose name she used to embody all her teachers, wonderfully fitting for the novel!

The fair on Ellison's tennament, the Accy Vic., the fish market, the ladies in the sweet shop etc - it's actually a very accurate description of how it was growing up here in the 70's and not detrimental to the town at all...

Of her other work, I've read Sexing the Cherry and some essays - not as easy to follow though.

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

That's still no excuse for the picture in the magazine. It's probably the worst possible vista of Accy you can imagine. Why couldn't she have got a shot of herself outside the market hall or town hall, or even from the top of the Coppice? She simply seems to wallow in a pictorial statement saying 'this is the mess that I came from and it's still the same'. It's disgraceful. Sod her. She has nothing good or positive to say about Accy, so why the hell should we associate ourselves with her?

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

For once I agree with you Mr T

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

Groove agrees with Mr.Tealeaf on this issue, hence my post about stereotypical mill-town images etc...Groove would like to thank Mrs.Pilky for correcting his spelling errors.

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

Well yes i guess she could if she had wanted to, have given a different image of Accrington than the one the photo portrays. This is as mentioned, the back alley between Water Street/Avenue Parade. She was i believe brought up on Water street, so perhaps this is at the back of her old house.

Best Regards - Taggy

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

Groove thinks he was to write a book about his life in a nortern town, he too would use a stereotypical view of cobbles, terraced houses and mills etc...Groove believes this is what makes Accy different, were as a view of the town or market hall or Arndale or whatever could have been taken anywere in Britain. Groove thinks in 50-100 years all towns will look the same with characterless buildings.

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

Where's the photo of Ms. Winterson?

Why have you posted a picture of a young Bob Dylan?

Did he stop in Accrington for a wee up a back alley, on his way from Sheffield to Liverpool, on his '65 tour?

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

I remember that view well down the back street - with Karrimor at the bottom!

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

Her latest memoir which includes new revelations about her young life in Accrington has just been released.
It's called "Why be happy when you could be normal?" Her mother's parting words to her when she left home at 16.
She has read some of the book for BBC Radio 2 - you can hear it at the following link and read a synopsis of the new novel.
Jeanette Winterson reads her memoir on BBC radio The Eyes Have It

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

She is on BBC News tomorrow morning sometime between 6am - 9am

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

She was also on "The One Show" yesterday with a feature about adoption, shows some clips around Accrington & "Oranges". Its about 2 minutes into the show.


BBC iPlayer - The One Show: 01/11/2011


Best Regards - Taggy

Re: Jeanette Winterston - famous novelist
 

She was interviewed on North West Tonight yesterday, too.

Saying although it was hard, she was glad she was adopted, and brought up in Accrington.