Jake Goldsmith

Jake Goldsmith has cystic fibrosis and a list of other chronic health conditions.

His writing focuses on the phenomenology of illness, intellectual history, and how illness defines one’s experiences.

His memoir ‘Neither Weak Nor Obtuse’ was published by Sagging Meniscus Press in Summer 2022. The title of the book comes from a phrase within a letter that Boris Pasternak sent to Albert Camus in 1957, stating that while there may not be anything beyond ‘sensualism’, a sensualism that is completely naked becomes weak and obtuse. This limitation is explored in Jake’s work.

A collection of short essays titled In Hospital Environments: Essays on Illness & Philosophy, featuring illustrations by Wend Rend, was published in May 2024.

In Extremis, another anthology of essays, will be published by Sagging Meniscus Press in September 2025.

Jake's favourite authors and most important intellectual influences include Svetlana Alexievich, Raymond Aron, W.N.P. Barbellion, Albert Camus, Baltasar Gracián, Leszek Kołakowski, Michel de Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld, Manès Sperber, Bernard Williams, and Simone Weil.

Jake is the founder and director of The Barbellion Prize. An international book prize for ill and disabled authors.