People like Howard Jacobson

Howard Eric Jacobson (born 25 August 1942) is a British novelist and journalist. He is known for writing comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters. He is a Booker Prize winner.

Jacobson was born in Manchester to parents of Russian-Jewish heritage (his father's parents came from Kamianets-Podilskyi in what is now Ukraine, his mother's family from Lithuania). He was brought up in Prestwich, and educated at Stand Grammar School in Whitefield, Greater Manchester before going on to study English at Downing College, Cambridge, under F. R. Leavis. He graduated with a 2:2.

He lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before returning to Britain to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His later teaching posts included a period at Wolverhampton Polytechnic from 1974 to 1980.