Jenny Diski facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jenny Diski
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Diski (standing) with her rescuer and mentor Doris Lessing in 1963
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| Born | Jennifer Simmonds 8 July 1947 London, England |
| Died | 28 April 2016 (aged 68) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | Autobiography, fiction, non-fiction, travel |
Jenny Diski (born Jennifer Simmonds; 8 July 1947 – 28 April 2016) was an English writer. She was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Jenny had a difficult childhood. However, she was helped and guided by the famous novelist Doris Lessing. Jenny lived in Doris Lessing's home for four years.
Jenny Diski studied at University College London. She worked as a teacher during the 1970s and early 1980s. She often wrote for the London Review of Books magazine. Her collections of essays, Don't and A View from the Bed, include many of these articles. In 2003, she won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award. This was for her book Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking around America With Interruptions.
Contents
Early Life
Jenny Diski had a challenging childhood. Her family life was not stable. Her parents were Jewish immigrants who lived in London. Her father left the family when Jenny was six years old. This made her mother very unwell. Because of this, Jenny was placed in foster care for a time. Her father returned but then left for good when she was eleven.
Jenny spent much of her youth in hospitals for her mental health. Later, the novelist Doris Lessing took her in. Doris Lessing was the mother of one of Jenny's school friends. Living with Doris Lessing helped Jenny continue her education. By the early 1970s, she was training to be a teacher. She also helped start a free school called Freightliners. Around this time, she had her first work published.
Her Writings
Over many years, Jenny Diski wrote a lot of books and articles. She wrote both fiction (made-up stories) and non-fiction (true stories). Her writing often had a unique, thoughtful style. She could make even sad topics interesting. People sometimes compared her to her mentor, Doris Lessing. This was because both writers focused on the lives of thinking women.
Fiction Books
Jenny Diski wrote eleven novels. A novel is a long story. Her only collection of short stories was The Vanishing Princess. It was published in 1995. This book was about "pleasure, writing, family life, and being a woman."
Non-fiction Books
One of her well-known non-fiction books is Skating to Antarctica. This book is about her trip to the icy Antarctic region. But it also shares many details about her early life. One reviewer said that Antarctica was "not just a place" in this book. It was part of her intense and moving story about a difficult childhood.
Jenny Diski compared the stark white ice of Antarctica to the safe, plain white walls of the hospital where she stayed when she was younger. In a tribute written after Jenny's death, Kate Kellaway called Skating to Antarctica a "remarkable" book. It also features Jenny's daughter, Chloe. Chloe encouraged Jenny to find out what happened to her own mother. Jenny had not spoken to her mother for many years. The book switches between her trip to the frozen south and her search for her mother.
In 2010, Jenny Diski wrote What I Don't Know About Animals. This book looks at how we treat pet animals in Western society. She explores how animals are sometimes loved and sometimes treated badly. A reviewer from The Guardian newspaper praised Jenny Diski. They called her "one of the language's great stylists." They said her writing was "honest, direct, and intelligent."
Jenny Diski's last book was In Gratitude. It was published just before she passed away in 2016. In this book, she gracefully looked back at her life. She knew she was going to die soon from a serious illness. She wrote about her time with Doris Lessing. She also wrote about meeting other famous writers like Robert Graves and Alan Sillitoe. A reviewer said the book was "thoughtful, often indirect, but interesting and very readable."
Personal Life
Jenny Diski married Roger Marks in 1976. They both chose the last name Diski. Their daughter, Chloe, was born in 1977. Jenny and Roger separated in 1981 and later divorced. Her partner until the end of her life was Ian Patterson. He is a poet and translator. He was also a director of English Studies at Queens' College, Cambridge. Jenny often called him "the Poet" in her writings.
In June 2014, Jenny Diski learned she had a serious illness. In September 2014, she shared that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She passed away on 28 April 2016.
Prizes
- 2003 J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography for Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking around America With Interruptions
- 2003 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking around America With Interruptions
Works
Fiction
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Non-fiction
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