Born in Leicester, England, in 1946, Julian Barnes is the author of two books of stories, three collections of essays, a translation of Alphonse Daudet’s In the Land of Pain, and ten 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 and the San Clemente literary prize. He lives in London.

"It is a beautiful and funny book, still booming in my head." -- Garrison Keillor

Barnes on John Updike

Julian Barnes writes about John Updike's final works in "Flights" for The New York Review of Books, 11 June 2009. From the Essay: "Hearing of John Updike's death in January of this year, I had two immediate, ordinary reactions. The first was a protest—"But I thought we had him for another ten years"; the second, a feeling of disappointment that Stockholm had never given him the nod. The latter was a wish for him, and for American literature, the former a wish for me, for us, for Updikeans around the world. "Though it was not as if he hadn't left us enough to read. For years now his lifelong publishers at Knopf have been giving back-flap approximations. In the mid-1990s, in a cute philoprogenitive linking, he was "the father of four children and the author of more than forty books." By the time of The Early Stories (2003) they had him, in a hands-in-the-air sort of way, as "the author of fifty-odd previous books." Now, with Endpoint, they award him "more than sixty books".

Nothing To Be Frightened Of (Vintage)

‘I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.’ Julian Barnes’ Nothing To Be Frightened Of 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. Vintage paperback edition is now available from the Vintage website or Amazon.co.uk. The American edition is available from Knopf and the Canadian from Random House Canada. Order your copy online via Amazon.com, Knopf, Amazon.co.uk, Random House, Amazon.ca, or one of a number of local independent booksellers. Read the first chapter online at the New York Times website.

Conversations with Julian Barnes

University Press of Mississippi, April 2009. 212 pages (approx.) Conversations with Julian Barnes collects eighteen interviews, conducted over nearly three decades, by journalists and correspondents throughout the world with Julian Barnes, the author of such highly praised novels as Flaubert's Parrot and Arthur & George. The interviews collectively address the entirety of Barnes's varied works and provide readers the most vivid portrait yet of contexts and influences behind his ten novels, his short stories, and his essays. The interviews focus not only on the author's fiction but also on his essays, translations, and pseudonymous writings. Barnes's evolving understanding of the themes developed in his works (history, truth, love, art, and death), his views on the art of the writing process, and the role of authors in contemporary society are also discussed at length. About the Editors: Vanessa Guignery is assistant professor of British literature at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne and the author of The Fiction of Julian Barnes. Ryan Roberts is a librarian at Lincoln Land Community College. He also maintains the official websites of Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan. Publication is scheduled for April 2009, and you may pre-order a copy at the University Press of Mississippi website or online via Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, or a variety of Independent Booksellers. Contents of Conversations with Julian Barnes: Introduction Chronology Ronald Hayman: Julian Barnes in Interview Caroline Holland: Escape from Metroland Patrick McGrath: Julian Barnes Bruce Cook: The World's History and Then Some in 10½ Chapters Michael March: Into the Lion's Mouth: A Conversation with Julian Barnes Observer: He's Turned Towards Python (But Not the Dead Flaubert's Parrot Sketch...): Interview with Julian Barnes Rudolf Freiburg: "Novels Come out of Life, Not out of Theories": An Interview with Julian Barnes Vanessa Guignery: "History in Question(s)": An Interview with Julian Barnes Shusha Guppy: Julian Barnes: The Art of Fiction CLXV Robert Birnbaum: Julian Barnes, Etc. Peter Wild: Interviews: Julian Barnes Vanessa Guignery: Julian Barnes in Conversation Nadine O'Regan: Cool, Clean Man of Letters Ramona Koval: Big Ideas-Program 5-"Julian Barnes" Stuart Jeffries: "It's for Self-Protection" Xesús Fraga: Interview with Julian Barnes (Previously unpublished in English) Margaret Crick: Julian Barnes: Are You an Oldie? (Expanded version) Vanessa Guignery and Ryan Roberts: Julian Barnes: The Final Interview (Conducted specially for this collection) You may also view the submitted index courtesy of Ryan Roberts. Please note that the final, published index will likely be edited with fewer entries. All page numbers correspond to the published edition. Index to Conversations with Julian Barnes.

Arthur Hugh Clough's Amours de Voyage

Julian Barnes has provided a new preface to Arthur Hugh Clough's Amours de Voyage, published by Persephone Books Ltd. From the Publisher: Persephone prints mainly neglected fiction and non-fiction. The books are guaranteed to be readable, thought-provoking and impossible to forget. Titles include novels, short stories, diaries and cookery books. They are all carefully designed with a clear typeface, a dove-grey jacket, a 'fabric' endpaper and bookmark, and a preface by writers such as Jilly Cooper, Adam Gopnik, and Jacqueline Wilson. 'The answer to a present-giver's prayers.' Vogue 'There are cute books, there are beautiful books and then there are Persephone books.' The Irish Times 'What unites all the books is their timelessness. The writing is fresh, psychologically accurate, frequently moving and funny.' Daily Telegraph 'Oh, the bliss of Persephone Books!' India Knight, The Shops Amours de Voyage , with a new preface written by Julian Barnes will be published at the end of April 2009. Order the book directly from Persephone Books or online via Amazon.co.uk. A shortened version of the introduction was published as "When in Rome", The Guardian, April 18 2009.

Julian Barnes on George Orwell

"Such, Such Was Eric Blair." New York Review of Books, 56.4 (12 March 2009) [Essay on three George Orwell books: Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays, compiled and with an introduction by George Packer; All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays, compiled by George Packer, with an introduction by Keith Gessen; and Why I Write]. From the Essay: "Orwell used "sophisticated" and "intellectual" and "intelligentsia" as terms of dispraise, hated Bloomsbury, and not just expected but hoped that the sales of Uncle Tom's Cabin would outlast those of Virginia Woolf. He was scathing about social elites, finding the ruling class "stupid." In 1941 he declared that Britain was the most class-ridden country on earth, ruled by "the old and silly," "a family with the wrong members in control"; yet he also recognized that the ruling class was "morally fairly sound" and in time of war "ready enough to get themselves killed." He described the condition of the working class with sympathy and rage, thought them wiser than intellectuals, but didn't sentimentalize them; in their struggle they were as "blind and stupid" as a plant struggling toward the light."

New Book on Julian Barnes's Writing

From the Publisher: "This book presents an accessible introduction to the work of Julian Barnes which places it in historical and theoretical context. It presents a comprehensive and accessible introduction to all of Barnes' publications to date. It includes a timeline of important dates to help place new British fiction in context. It also provides an overview of the varied critical reception his work has provoked. This guide explores his characteristic literary techniques, offers extensive readings of all ten novels and provides an overview of the varied critical reception his work has provoked." Frederick M. Holmes Julian Barnes (New British Fiction) Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Pp. 176 Order online through Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Palgrave Macmillan, or through other fine booksellers.