Linda Grant is a journalist and novelist. She was born in Liverpool in 1951 to Russian and Polish-Jewish migrants. She studied English at the University of York and completed an M.A. in English at McMaster University in Canada. Following her studies, Grant returned to the United Kingdom and worked as a journalist for the Guardian, where she was not only a feature writer but also had her own weekly column. She has written articles on a vast variety of themes including the Holocaust and the state of the British Labour Party in her local constituency.

Grant’s other works involve a plethora of literature, both fictional and non-fictional. In her writing, she frequently addresses her Jewish background and family history as well as the history of the city of Liverpool. She states that her Jewish connections were what gave her the motivation to write and equipped her with her own “fictional voice”. Grant has dealt extensively with issues concerning the state of Israel, where many of her works are set. Her writing has received wide critical acclaim. Her novel When I Lived in Modern Times (2000), which is set in Tel Aviv during the final years of the British Mandate, won the Orange Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly as well as the Encore Prize.

In recent years, Grant has continued to produce literary works such as Upstairs at the Party (2014) and has also produced a large number of academic papers and essays. Her contribution to scholarly work culminated in her being awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of York in 2012. Her work has been translated into several different languages including German, Russian, and Turkish.