Origins & Early Life

Howard Eric Jacobson (born 25 August 1942) is a British novelist and journalist. He writes comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters. He is a Man 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, and his mother's family from Lithuania).

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He has a brother. 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.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

He lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before returning to Britain to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He also taught at Wolverhampton Polytechnic from 1974 to 1980. Jacobson's time at Wolverhampton was to form the basis of his first novel, Coming from Behind, a campus comedy about a failing polytechnic that plans to merge facilities with a local football club. The episode of teaching in a football stadium in the novel is, according to Jacobson in a 1985 BBC interview, the only portion of the novel based on...

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

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