Born in Leicester, England, in 1946, Julian Barnes is the author of two books of stories, two collections of essays, a translation of Alphonse Daudet’s In the Land of Pain, and nine previous novels. His most recent work is Nothing to be Frightened of, an exploration of death, religion, and family.

In France, he is the only writer to have won both the Prix Médicis and the Prix Fémina, and in 2004 he became a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In England his honors include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He has also received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He lives in London.

Nothing to be Frightened of, his latest book, is published by Jonathan Cape, Random House Canada, and Knopf.

Alethea Hayter (1911-2006)

"Back -- due to popular demand" Guardian Review, 3 May 2008 [Writers discuss which books they would consider ordering through the "on demand" service offered by Faber and Faber called Faber Finds]. Julian Barnes chooses two works by Alethea Hayter (1911-2006): A Sultry Month (1965), which he describes as, "a brilliant recreation of a few weeks in London literary life in 1846, which is highly original in its form and narrative cross-cutting" and Horatio's Version (1972), "the report of a court of inquiry into events at Elsinore: as interesting a reworking of the play as Tom Stoppard's more famous version".

New Book by Julian Barnes -- March 2008

‘I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.’ Julian Barnes’ new book is, among many things, a family memoir, an exchange with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on mortality and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with and about God, and a homage to the French writer Jules Renard. Though he warns us that ‘this is not my autobiography’, the result is like a tour of the mind of one of our most brilliant writers. When Angela Carter reviewed Barnes’s first novel, Metroland, she praised the mature way he wrote about death. Now, nearly thirty years later, he returns to the subject in a wise , funny and constantly surprising book, which defies category and classification – except as Barnesian. Publication Dates Jonathan Cape: 6 March 2008 LRB Limited Edition: available 14 March 2008 (signed on 4 March) Random House Canada: 15 April 2008 Knopf: 2 September 2008 Order a copy online via Random House, Amazon.co.uk, Random House Canada, Amazon.ca, Knopf, Amazon.com, or one of a number of local independent booksellers. Julian Barnes Reading from His New Work BBC Radio 4 -- Book of the Week Julian Barnes will read from his new work Nothing to be Frightened of on BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, Monday-Friday, 17-21 March. Broadcast times are Weekdays 9.45am-10.00am, repeated 00.30-00.45am (Visit the Book of the Week Website) Recent Press Julian Barnes discusses his new work with Mark Lawson for Front Row (BBC Radio 4), 3 March 2008. Barnes also talks with Philip Dodd on Night Waves, 4 March 2008. Newsnight Review (BBC 2) will feature Nothing to be Frightened of on 7 March 2008. Barnes will be reading sections of his new work. Visit the website to watch the program.

Limited Edition -- Nothing to be Frightened of

The London Review Bookshop is delighted to announce its latest title in the London Review Bookshop Limited Editions series, Julian Barnes's Nothing to be Frightened of. The edition, signed by the author before publication (6 March), comprises 125 copies, of which 100 have been quarter-bound in Harmatan fine-grain leather (Crimson 21) with patterned boards by Enid Marx (courtesy of the Judd Street Gallery 1988), housed in a cloth slipcase and numbered 1 to 100, and 25 fully bound in the same leather, housed in a solander box and numbered i to xxv. The bindings have been designed by Andrew Stilwell and the books have been bound, slipcased and boxed by The Fine Book Bindery, Wellingborough, Northants. All orders should be sent in writing to Andrew Stilwell at the bookshop or by email to astilwell@lrbshop.co.uk, with cheque (one copy only) or full card details, including security code. Books will be sent by Special Delivery in the UK (please add £4.70 per book), and by International Signed For to Europe (add £7.10 per book) and the Rest of the World (add £8.70 per book). Please note that the book is exempt from the 10% LRB reader discount days. Quarter leather edition: £170 Full leather edition: £290 To order this and other limited editions from the London Review Bookshop, please visit http://www.lrbshop.co.uk/ and click on "Limited Editions".

Interview with Julian Barnes

A new Julian Barnes interview is being featured on Mike French's blog The View from Here. The interview will be published in three installments, the first of which is available at http://mike-french.blogspot.com.

Flaubert's Last Letters

Julian Barnes reviews Gustave Flaubert, Correspondance V: janvier 1876 – mai 1880, edited by Jean Bruneau and Yvan Leclerc for the Times Literary Supplement, 12 March 2008, under the title "Flaubert's Last Letters". Published by Gallimard, Correspondance V is 1,556pp., and is available from the Gallimard website at www.gallimard.fr Barnes previously reviewed Correspondance IV: 1869-1875 for the Times Literary Supplement in the 18 December 1998 issue. Read the review online at the TLS Website.

Coffee with Aristotle

Julian Barnes writes the foreword to Coffee with Aristotle, a new book by Jonathan Barnes, the noted Aristotle scholar ... and Julian's brother. Book Description: Not many people can claim to have invented a new science, but Aristotle invented two: zoology and logic. More than two millennia after his death, Aristotle’s thought still influences us. Here, over coffee (a drink Aristotle never tasted), he converses with refreshing and illuminating simplicity about everything from causation and deduction to the role of women and the wonders of the natural world in a pre-scientific age. Order a copy from the Duncan Baird website or via Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Marriage Lines -- A Short Story

Granta 100 features a short story by Julian Barnes titled 'Marriage Lines'. The issue also includes contributions by James Fenton, Ian McEwan, Craig Raine, Alan Hollinghurst, Salman Rushdie, Helen Simpson, and many more. For more information, please visit the Granta website: www.granta.com. The issue is also available to be purchased online via Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, or one of a number of local independent booksellers.

Julian Barnes in South America

Julian Barnes visited South America in January and February as part of a trip sponsored by the British Council. Articles about his visit will be posted shortly. In the meantime, try 'Julian Barnes, el inglés que hizo reír a Buenos Aires [Julian Barnes: The Englishman Who Made Buenos Aires Laugh].' Clarin.com, 8 Feb. 2008.           Photos from his stop in Buenos Aires are courtesy of Carlos Mamud / British Council.       This plaque was placed across from a similar plaque honoring Borges, just outside the library where Borges worked as a young man.

Julian Barnes Conference -- Call for Papers

JULIAN BARNES AND THE EUROPEAN TRADITION Liverpool Hope University Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June, 2008 Julian Barnes in conversation and reading from his work. (Visit the conference website at: http://www.hope.ac.uk/research/barnesconference/) Short papers are invited on aspects of Barnes’s writing focusing on specific texts/periods, or addressing his relation to Genre and Hybridity; the Creative and the Critical; Intertextuality; European History, Trauma and Memory; (European) Literary Traditions, Postmodernism and the Contemporary; Morality and Ethics; Class and Englishness. Delegates are particularly encouraged to submit proposals for papers on Barnes’s relationship to European culture and history. Send abstracts for papers of 250 words, together with a brief biographical note, to Sebastian Groes at the (email) address below, before 15 April 2008. A limited number of postgraduate student bursaries are available. Requests for early notification of acceptance for international delegates are welcome. For further information and registration details, please contact: Sebastian Groes Julian Barnes Conference The Deanery of Arts and Humanities Liverpool Hope University Hope Park Liverpool L16 9JD United Kingdom Email: GROESS@hope.ac.uk Tel.: 00-44(0)151-291 3560