[2] Winsome Pinnock was born in Islington, North London, to parents who were both migrants from Smithville, Jamaica.
Her mother was a cleaner, and her father a checker at Smithfield Meat Market.
[3] Pinnock attended Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Comprehensive Girls' School (formerly Starcross School) in Islington, and graduated from Goldsmiths' College, University of London (1979–82) with a BA (Joint Honours) degree in English and Drama,[4] and in 1983 from Birkbeck College, University of London, with an MA degree in Modern Literature in English.
[9] She also adapted Jean Rhys' short story "Let Them Call It Jazz" for BBC Radio 4 in 1998, and has written screenplays and television episodes.
[6] Pinnock's work is included in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.