Julian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer, and winner of the 2011
Man Booker PrizeThe Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
, for his book
The Sense of an EndingThe Sense of an Ending is a 2011 novel written by British author Julian Barnes. The book is Barnes' eleventh novel and was released on 4 August 2011 in the United Kingdom. The Sense of an Ending is narrated by a middle-aged man named Tony Webster, who recalls how he and his clique met Adrian Finn...
. Three of his earlier books had been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize:
Flaubert's ParrotFlaubert's Parrot is a novel by Julian Barnes that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984 and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize the following year...
(1984),
England, EnglandEngland, England is a satirical science fiction novel by Julian Barnes which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel is set in the Britain of the not-too-distant future, and chronicles the creation of a giant England themed amusement park, called "England, England", which also operates as...
(1998), and
Arthur & GeorgeArthur & George is the tenth novel by English author Julian Barnes which takes as its basis the true story of the 'Great Wyrley Outrages.'-Plot introduction:...
(2005).
Barnes has written
crime fictionCrime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. Barnes is one of the best-loved English writers in France, where he has won several literary prizes, including the
Prix MédicisThe Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
for
Flaubert’s Parrot and the
Prix FeminaThe Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse . The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury, although the authors of the winning works do not have to be women...
for
Talking It Over.