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About
Linda Grant born 15 February 1951 is a British novelist and occasional journalist. Linda Grant was born in Liverpool to a family of Russian and Polish Jewish immigrants.She was educated at The Belvedere School (Girls' Day School Trust), read English at the University of York (1972 to 1975), then completed an M.A. in English at McMaster University in Canada. She did post-graduate studies at Simon Fraser University. In 1985 Grant returned to Britain and became a journalist, working for The Guardian and eventually wrote her own column for eighteen months. She published her first book, a non-fiction work, Sexing the Millennium: A Political History of the Sexual Revolution in 1993. She wrote a personal memoir of her mother's fight with vascular dementia called Remind Me Who I Am, Again.Her second novel, When I Lived in Modern Times won the Orange Prize. Her fiction draws heavily on her Jewish background, family history, and the history of Liverpool. She has developed a special interest in the state of Israel.In 2006, she was named a winner of the Lettre Ulysses Award for reportage.The Clothes on Their Backs was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize and won the South Bank Show award in the Literature category. abridged from Wikipedia
Questionnaire
Your favourite virtue?
Virtue – no, too religious a concept for me
Your favourite qualities in a man?
Good kisser
Your favourite qualities in a woman?
Sisterhood is powerful
Your main characteristic?
Sloth
What draws you most to your friends?
Their variety
Given the opportunity what would you most like to change?
The continued oppression of women through burkhas, clitorectomies, poverty and sex trafficking
Who would you most like to take out for dinner?
My friend Susie Boyt who is taking me out to lunch on my birthday in February. In Paris. I’d return the favour
Your idea of happiness?
Writing going well, no-one bothering me, phone doesn’t ring, postman doesn’t call
What is your favourite way of spending the day?
Morning as above, followed by a little browse round Harvey Nicks and drinks with good friends
Whose life other than yours would you most like to have lived?
Many people I admire led unhappy lives. Tina Turner without Ike, Maria Callas without Onassis
Where would you most like to live?
Off the King’s Road
Who is your favourite author?
Dickens
Who is your favourite poet?
George Szirtes
Your favourite heroes in fiction?
Satan in Paradise Lost
Your favourite heroines in fiction?
Mrs Ramsey in To The Lighthouse
Your favourite painters?
I’m a bit illiterate on visual art
Who is your favourite composer?
Bach Bach Bach
What is your favourite Film?
Toss up between Once Upon a Time in America and Letter From an Unknown Woman
Your favourite food?
Cheese, really good Italian cheeses
Your favourite drink?
Vodka, especially when it meets other ingredients
Who do you most admire?
The Israeli novelist David Grossman whose son was killed in Lebanon and yet he went on to finish his novel
What is your present state of mind?
Relaxed (today)
For what fault have you most toleration?
Spendthrifts
Your favourite motto?
'A good handbag makes the outfit’
Gallery
Links
Official Site
Amazon
Twitter
Guardian Interview
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