Joanne Limburg
{{Short description|British writer and poet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Joanne Limburg
| image =
| birth_date = 1970
| birth_place = London, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| notableworks = Femenismo,
Paraphernalia
}}
Joanne Limburg (born 1970) is a British writer and poet based in Cambridge. She has published three books of poetry for adults, one book of poetry for children, a novel and two books of memoirs.
Life
Limburg was born in London to parents who were Reform Jews and raised in Stanmore, a district of Hackney, and Edgware.{{cite news|last=Garvey|first=Anne|url=https://www.thejc.com/culture/books/interview-joanne-limburg-1.59789|title=Interview: Joanne Limburg|work=The Jewish Chronicle|access-date=16 July 2019}}{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Hephzibah|url=https://www.thejc.com/culture/books/review-the-woman-who-thought-too-much-1.16382|title=Review: The Woman Who Thought Too Much|work=The Jewish Chronicle|date=24 June 2010|access-date=16 July 2019}} Her grandmother came from Kremenchug in Ukraine, while her father's family arrived before the late 19th century. At Cambridge University, she studied philosophy. Followed by an MA in Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Kent.
She won an Eric Gregory Award in 1998 for her poetry.{{cite web|url=http://www.interlitq.org/englishwriters3/joanne-limburg/bio.php|title=Joanne Limberg|work=InterLitq|access-date=16 July 2019}} Her first book of poetry, Femenismo was published in 2000. The book was shortlisted for the 2000 Forward Prize Best First Collection.{{cite news|last=Brown|first=Helen|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/7598648/The-Woman-Who-Thought-Too-Much-by-Joanne-Limburg-review.html|title=The Woman Who Thought Too Much by Joanne Limburg|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=16 April 2010|access-date=16 July 2019}} Her debut novel, A Want of Kindness, which concerns the 18th century monarch Queen Anne, was published in 2015. "Despite the constraints imposed by her wet heroine, Limburg has written a deft, absorbing book about a fascinating period", wrote Antonia Senior in The Times.{{cite news|last=Senior|first=Anne|url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/historical-fiction-the-book-of-aron-watchmaker-of-filigree-street-a-want-of-kindness-kit-kingmaker-broken-faith-marston-moor-gtmp88v70d2|title=Historical fiction: The Book of Aron; Watchmaker of Filigree Street; A Want of Kindness; Kit; Kingmaker: Broken Faith; Marston Moor|work=The Times|date=18 July 2015|access-date=16 July 2019}} {{subscription required}}
Limburg has written about the guilt of her miscarriage and the possibility that she had thoughts of harming her baby.{{cite news|last=Limburg|first=Joanne|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/04/joanne-limburg-poet-depression-miscarriage|title=Once upon a life: Joanne Limburg|work=The Observer|date=4 April 2010|access-date=16 July 2019}} It was only during her pregnancy that she self diagnosed her own Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and later it was confirmed by a specialist. She has Asperger's syndrome, which was diagnosed in her 30s.{{cite news|last=Limburg|first=Joanne|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/16/i-knew-people-found-me-uncanny-and-strange-then-came-the-diagnosis-that-explained-it-all|title=I knew people found me uncanny and strange – then came the diagnosis that explained it all|work=The Guardian|date=16 July 2019|access-date=16 July 2019}}
The Woman Who Thought Too Much, a memoir, was published in January 2011.{{cite news|last=Finlayson|first=Iain|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/the-woman-who-thought-too-much-a-memoir-of-obsession-and-compulsion-by-joanne-limburg-6x8bchjl6mp|title=The Woman Who Thought Too Much: a Memoir of Obsession and Compulsion, by Joanne Limburg|work=The Times|date=1 January 2011|access-date=16 July 2019}} The book is revealing of the authors feelings about her own obsessive-compulsive disorder and the challenges it has brought. She has a need for constant reassurance. Limburg has lost jobs over her fear of unusual things happening. She considers what would happen if her husband got cancer or a car hits her and her son.[http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/170262/Fighting-back-The-woman-who-is-scared-of-everything Fighting Back], 2010, The Express, Retrieved 26 March 2017
Limburg was a Royal Literary Fund fellow based at Magdalene College (2008–10) and Newnham College (2016–17), both in Cambridge.{{cite news|url=https://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowships/joanne-limburg/|title=Joanne Limburg|work=Royal Literary Fund|access-date=16 July 2019}}
Following a PhD in Creative Writing at Kingston University she taught at De Montfort University.{{cite web|url=https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/art-design-humanities/joanne-limburg/joanne-limburg.aspx |title=Joanne Limburg |access-date=22 July 2021}} She now teaches at the Institute of Continuing Education, part of the University of Cambridge. In 2022 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Works include
- Femenismo, 2000
- Paraphernalia, 2007 (Poetry Book Society Recommendation)
- The Woman Who Thought Too Much, 2011 (shortlisted for Mind Book of the Year Award)
- The Oxygen Man, 2012
- Bookside Down, 2013
- A Want of Kindness, 2015
- Autistic Alice, 2017
- Small Pieces, 2017
- Letters to My Weird Sisters, 2021
References
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Category:Academics of De Montfort University
Category:Alumni of Kingston University
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Alumni of the University of Kent
Category:Jewish English writers
Category:21st-century British poets
Category:21st-century British women writers
Category:Writers from the London Borough of Harrow
Category:People with Asperger syndrome
Category:People with obsessive–compulsive disorder