Quick Facts
Biography
Joanne Limburg (born 1970) is a British writer and poet based in Cambridge at Newnham College. She has published three books of poetry for adults, one book of poetry for children, a novel and a book of memoirs.
Life
Limburg was born in London in 1970 and grew up with undiagnosed autism.. She won a Eric Gregory Award in 1998 for her poetry. In 2000 she published her first book of poetry, Femenismo. The book was shortlisted for the 2000 Forward Prize Best First Collection.
She has written about the guilt of her miscarriage and the possibility that she had thoughts of harming her baby. It was only during her pregnancy that she self diagnosed her own OCD and later it was confirmed by a specialist.
She has published a book of memoirs titled The Woman Who Thought Too Much. 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.
Limburg is a Royal Literary Fund fellow based in Newnham College in Cambridge.
Works include
- Femenismo, 2000
- Paraphernalia, 2007 (Poetry Book Society Recommendation)
- The Woman Who Thought Too Much (shortlisted for Mind Book of the Year Award)
- The Oxygen Man, 2012
- Bookside Down, 2013
- A Want of Kindness, 2015
- Autistic Alice, 2017